Or Else to Light
by pandamari
Summary: SasuHina. Sasuke knows that he can't expect to win by attacking the entire Konoha village head on, so he resorts to dealing in more underhanded methods, namely by the capture of one Hyūga Hinata.
1. Chapter 1

This story takes somewhere in the Naruto timeline between the Hunt for the Eight-Tails Arc and the Five Kage Summit Arc. Past that everything is rather non-canon so prepare yourselves.

* * *

Chapter 1

A sleeping village partly hidden by the morning fog lay nestled in the leafy green forest of the Fire Country. Hundreds of miles away from Konohagakure, one man plotted its demise. How best to make sure the ninjas of Konoha would never rise again. Uchiha Sasuke knew he was outnumbered. No matter how much he wanted to travel the distance and destroy the village, he knew that it was likely he would not succeed. Oh, he could perhaps take out most of the population, maybe even raze all the buildings to the ground. But that wasn't enough. For his revenge to be complete he had to make sure, make completely sure that Konoha would be wiped off the map forever. After all, there was Naruto to think about. Sasuke knew he could probably kill his former comrade in battle. But it would not just be Naruto on the battlefield against him. And after all, Sasuke had barely managed to defeat the Eight Tails, and from what he gathered from Madara, Naruto had more potential than Killer Bee. Sasuke knew that Naruto was driven by his feelings of comradeship. He had previously thought these to be weak, but how different were they really, from his feelings of vengeance? His drive for revenge was what made Sasuke strong; he knew that. Even with Itachi's eyes, Sasuke didn't want to take any chances. No, Naruto was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

To bring Konoha down, he would have to break down more than just the thick wall that surrounded it. He'd have to burn it from the inside out until there was nothing left.

"Are you awake, Sasuke? I told you I would take the last watch shift." For a man so large, Jūgo moved with surprising silence. Sasuke turned his head slightly to the left, and saw the light red, almost magenta eyes staring calmly down at him from the shadows. It was very early in the morning, the sun barely beginning its way over the horizon. The forest clearing they had decided to camp in was strewn with huge broken boulders. Once they might have been part of the nearby looming mountain, but they had long since been blasted apart by some jutsu and now they lay on the ground, covered in moss. In the faint sunlight, they cast shadows over everything, and Sasuke could not make out where Suigetsu and Karin lay. The moon had set long ago while he had been sitting up.

"I am. I was just thinking." Sasuke said, throwing off his blankets and rising from his bedroll. Even standing he was a head shorter than the orange-haired man in front of him. Quelling the sudden childish surge of envy, Sasuke bent down to pick up his katana and the rest of his gear. They would be leaving in a few minutes. After all, it wasn't safe to stay in one place for so long, not with Konoha ninjas tracing their every move.

"About a plan?" Jūgo inquired silently. "Despite what the others think, I'm sure you are planning something."

Sasuke almost winced. He kept forgetting how smart Jūgo was. How easy it was for him to see the truth behind lies. For the past few weeks it had seemed as if Sasuke had been leading his team aimlessly through the thick forests on the edges of Fire Country. He knew Suigetsu and Karin had been arguing when they thought he wasn't listening. They thought Sasuke was wasting time and had no idea what to do. He had assumed Jūgo thought the same way. It was that stereotype. Everyone who saw Jūgo thought he was a big dumb brute. They underestimated him.

"Wake up Suigetsu and Karin, Jūgo. We have to keep moving." Sasuke said in reply, ignoring the question. His plan would be made known soon enough…

* * *

_I'm not going with Naruto?_ Hinata felt a slash of disappointment run through her. She lowered her gaze from Tsunade's sharp eyes, and stared at her feet so that the others would not notice. She thought Neji might have seen her reaction though because in the next pause in Tsunade's mission-briefing, he voiced her exact thoughts.

"And Hinata and I are not to go with Naruto and the rest?" Neji asked. He had been just as surprised as his cousin when Tsunade had told them that they would not be included in the party to track down Uchiha Sasuke once and for all. Why had the Hokage called the two of them here if not to send them on this mission? "Do you have a different assignment for us then?"

Tsunade nodded in a weary way. Her ninjas were stretched thin these days. She would have liked nothing more to send Hinata and Neji along with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi, but she knew it was impractical. "I have a more specific assignment for you two, one especially for Hyūgas. If the rest of you would please leave…?"

After many groans and complaints (mostly on the part of Naruto), the group filed out of the office. Hinata gulped as she and her cousin were left with the Hokage.

"Hinata, Neji". The two Hyūgas snapped to attention. "You were listening when I told you that Kakashi's team is being sent to deal with the army Sasuke is leading alongside Madara and Kabuto, yes?"

Hinata and Neji nodded. Tsunade wanted to stop the army while it was still weak and growing. Currently it was made up mostly of chunin and the occasional jounin, taken from the Village Hidden in the Rain. The village was being very reluctant in giving away its more skilled ninjas, which exposed an important opportunity for them to strike. If they could take out Madara now while he was still amassing forces, they could stop this war before it got too out of hand.

"I lied." Tsunade said bluntly, leaning back in her chair, looking old past her years (which she was, if the rumors Naruto had been spreading were true). Hinata gaped openly at the revelation. Neji's face was as blank as ever.

"Oh, there is an army, true. Led by Madara and Kabuto, to an extent. But Sasuke is not with them, and neither are his three comrades. We've received intelligence that leads us to believe that Sasuke has left Madara. Currently we have no idea where he is.

"Th-then why are you sending Naruto …?" Hinata trailed off in confusion. She knew Naruto wanted nothing more than to bring Sasuke home; that was the entire reason he was so motivated for this particular mission. But if what the Hokage was saying was true, that meant Naruto was being sent _away_ from Sasuke!

"Without Naruto, we can't beat Madara. We can't afford to have him chasing after Sasuke when he's needed elsewhere. The council wants to keep Naruto locked up so he won't be captured, but if we don't have him on the battlefield, I know the enemy will beat us. Which brings me to _your_ mission." Hinata noticed that the Hokage said the last part directly to Neji, and she felt an instant surge of resentment. She berated herself. _It's only because he's a jounin, and the elder. Nothing more._ Hinata could almost believe it.

"I want you two to track down Sasuke's team instead. I know a two-man team is…unconventional, but these are unconventional times." Tsunade said. "I need Byakugan users because you are the only shinobi in the entire village who can track from a distance. Neji, I hear your range has gotten pretty good." Tsunade appraised him.

"Hinata is very competent as well." Neji remarked quietly. Hinata felt a burst of affection for her cousin.

"Right." Tsunade smiled and nodded confidently. "We know that Sasuke plans on attacking our village, but he seems to be biding his time, and concealing himself well in the meantime. I need you two because you're the only trackers who will escape the detection of Sasuke's chakra sensor ninja. We're not quite sure, but I believe that's how he was able to see us coming before. And with two Byakugan users, we should be able to find him easily, without wasting too much energy."

Neji took it all in stride. "And once we've located him? Are we to bring Uchiha Sasuke back to Konoha with only two ninjas?" To the average onlooker Neji's expression was blank and emotionless, but Hinata could see the way his mouth quirked ironically.

Tsunade chuckled grimly. "No, but I do want you to tell us what he's planning. He must know as well as I that his little team of four doesn't stand a chance by themselves. I can't imagine why he left Madara…" Tsunade trailed off uncertainly, eyebrows cinched together in though. Shizune behind her cleared her throat.

"Oh, yes. Shizune, if you will." Tsunade motioned for her assistant to step forward. Shizune walked up to Neji and handed over the bright pink pig that she was perpetually holding in her arms. Neji looked more than slightly baffled with the squirming animal tucked under his chin.

Shizune hid a smile. "If anything comes up, you can send Tonton with a message back to us. Her sharp sense of smell might be useful as well, as we can't spare any ninja dogs." The assistant retreated behind Tsunade's desk once more.

The Hokage fixed Hinata and Neji with a quelling look. "Don't pull a Naruto, you two. Once you find out what Sasuke is up to, you come straight back, you here? No fighting. You'll leave as soon as you are ready. And if either of you tell Naruto that Sasuke isn't where he thinks he is, it'll be D-rank missions for the rest of your lives. Dismissed!"

Hinata and Neji backed out the door and were attacked the moment they set foot outside Tsunade's office. Naruto had been lying in ambush for them. He had been waiting just outside the door, probably trying to eavesdrop, and Hinata walked straight into him. She shrieked and turned bright red, and Naruto did nothing to help when he grabbed her shoulders to steady her. Neji was there in a second, prying the blonde ninja away from his cousin and fixing him with an icy glare.

"What do you want, Naruto?" Neji asked coldly.

Naruto only grinned. "What was Tsunade talking to you about? Are you guys in trouble? Why aren't you going with us?" He elbowed Neji in the ribs. Neji ignored him.

"Tsunade wants us to go to the Sand village to gather forces from our allies there and train up a resistance. She knows that since we're Hyūgas we have experience in speaking in front of people." Neji said, lying smoothly. Hinata tried not to show her dismay. If there was one thing she was not, it was a public speaker! Naruto would never believe—

"Oh! You're getting Gaara and everyone, eh? Well, tell them I said hi. Good luck!" Naruto bounced away and Hinata released the breath she didn't know she was holding. But she wasn't relieved that Naruto had bought the lie so easily; if anything it proved how little he really knew her.

"Come on Hinata, before we're attacked by the rest of them." Neji sounded annoyed, but Hinata knew he was only amused. Spending all those years with Gai-sensei would probably have that affect on anyone. You got used to being bothered.

As they walked home together from the office, Hinata could not help feeling badly about the mission they had been assigned. She felt like she was betraying Naruto by lying to him like this. Naruto's drive was to find Sasuke, just as Hinata's drive was to prove herself to her family. She was worried that when Naruto came to that battle and found out Sasuke was not there, he would lose the will to fight.

"Hinata, you're going the wrong way." Neji's quiet voice came behind her. Hinata blinked and lifted her head. He was right. With a mumbled apology, she turned around and began to follow him again, head turned away in embarrassment.

"Naruto will be all right." Neji said suddenly, and Hinata looked up at him in shock. She had never heard him speak well of Naruto. Neji seemed aware of this because he wouldn't meet Hinata's eyes and, it may have been her imagination, but he also looked slightly flushed. "He never gives up." He finished awkwardly.

Hinata smiled and against her better judgment, gave Neji a quick one-armed hug. The pig in his arms squealed in indignation, and Hinata had to apologize to Tonton, then Neji declared that he didn't think the pig could really understand her anyway, and they debated this matter back and forth all the way to the front door of the Hyuuga estate until said pig dug her foot into Neji's gut.

* * *

Back in Tsunade's office, the Hokage settled back in her chair for a well-earned glass of sake. She was just beginning to pour a cup of it, when she suddenly became aware of a malicious presence nearby. Calmly putting the bottle down, she pulled away from her desk and walked slowly to the window, as if admiring the view. She came just in time to see a black snake disappear in a cloud of white smoke. Shaking in rage, Tsunade noticed that the window was slightly ajar. Snake summons. Who the snake belonged to she could not say for certain, but currently the list was narrowed down to a couple very unsavory ninjas who could use the information they had just heard in very unseemly ways.

"Shizune!" Tsunade bellowed, and the assistant burst through the door in a panic. Tsunade was white and shaking with some unknown emotion. Fear, perhaps rage? "We have to cancel the two missions I just sent out. Bring all the ninjas back here. Hurry! Before they leave!" Shizune nodded in confusion and began rounding up any and all shinobi she could find, to send on this impromptu search party.

In the end, they managed to bring back Kakashi's team only. As usual, Kakashi was the last one at the meeting place. Fortunately it meant that Shizune was able to find the team before they set off. But by the time word reached the Hyūga estate, it was too late. The birds had flown.

* * *

Please review. I'll try to do longer chapters next, I just thought this ending was rather nice.


	2. Chapter 2

Darn, short chapter again. Well, I won't force myself to write longer ones if it isn't working. Hope you don't mind. Personally, I think the story is progressing too quickly. Do you think it's progressing too quickly?

* * *

Chapter 2

Oblivious to the chaos they had left their village in, Hinata and Neji made their journey through the forest in silence. The plan was to search the area around Konohagakure first, before moving on. It seemed Neji had taken a liking to Tonton over night because he insisted on holding the pig as they leaped through the trees. The sun had risen fully now, and it was turning out to be a very hot day. Neji stopped in a clearing and Hinata landed down next to him, wiping sweat from her forehead. Maybe the thick jacket had been a bad idea.

"We'll split up here and meet back when it gets dark. Keep in touch with this." Neji pulled out a pair of headset communicators, and Hinata put one on. They each activated their Byakugan and went off in separate directions, stopping once they had reached the range for the communicators.

Hinata leaned under the shade of a large tree where she would be shielded from the brutal sun. She leaned her head back against the tree trunk and to all eyes and appearances, closed her eyes and fell asleep. Of course, as the veins stretching around her eyes indicated, she was searching around the area with her Byakugan. The farther she had to look, the more concentration it took, and she simply could not do it while on the run. Her mind's eye searched as far as it could go, but she saw no sign of Sasuke, or anyone else.

"Any luck, Neji?" Hinata asked, raising the mouthpiece to her lips.

"Nothing, fortunately. It would be worrisome if Sasuke were this close to Konoha. Let's move farther." Neji said, and Hinata heard a distant oink in the background that could only be Tonton.

They slowly moved more and more away from the village, meandering towards the border. The process of stopping and searching with the Byakugan was painstakingly tedious, and under the hot sun, Hinata began to feel irritable and bored.

"Neji, what does Tsunade even think Sasuke is up to?" Hinata asked, after several search shifts had passed. Her eyes were beginning to feel a bit strained after so much constant use. Not wanting to tire herself out too much, Hinata released her Byakugan with a sigh of relief, and took a little break.

"If you ask me, I think Sasuke knows something we don't. Why else would he leave Madara and go off on his own? If he has any hidden allies, we need to know quickly so we can prepare for it." Neji said sharply, as if chiding Hinata for questioning their mission. Hinata turned red—gratefully no one was around to see it—and did not say anything for a long time.

"Is Tonton okay?" She asked after a while, completely bored, knowing that in a few minutes she would have to continue searching.

"Tonton is aslee—" Hinata gasped, leaped to her feet, and twisted around. The sudden movement dislodged the headset and it fell to the floor. Hinata found herself staring into the dark green eyes of a medium-sized black snake. She released a breath of relief. _It's just a snake! For a second I thought it was an enemy ninja…_ She shook her head at her mistake, and picked up the headset. Not wishing to disturb the snake any more, Hinata relocated to a different tree. She tried to shake herself free of the feeling that the snake's eyes were following her and slipped the headset back on.

"Hinata? Hinata!" Neji's voice was too loud in her ear and she flinched.

"I-I'm all right, I just dropped the headset. Stop shouting, you'll wake up Tonton." Hinata said quickly, and laughed nervously.

"Don't worry me like that Hinata!" Neji continued sternly, his voice barely any softer than before. "What made you drop your headset?"

"I just…saw a black snake behind me and it surprised me a little, I guess." Admitting it out loud just made it all the more pitiful. She could imagine Neji's expression.

"Didn't you see it coming with your Byakugan?" He replied incredulously.

Hinata's face was burning again. "I…was just taking a short break." She answered in a tiny voice, completely embarrassed. "I had my Byakugan released."

"Activate it again, Hinata, and look around carefully. Do you see anything strange?" There was a hint of panic in Neji's voice, and Hinata activated her Byakugan quickly. The snake was gone, completely gone.

"Does it mean anything?" Hinata asked, after telling her cousin this. She had searched as far as she could reach with her Byakugan, but there was no sign of any other ninja. And not one black snake. That could mean that the snake had no chakra signature for her to see with the Byakugan, or that it had somehow gotten far enough away that it was no longer visible, even with the Byakugan. She ardently hoped it was the former.

"I'm not sure, Hinata, but let's meet together just in case. There's a small farm nearly in the middle between us. Come straight there."

Hinata ran through the forest to the farm, puzzling over what had just happened. How had that snake disappeared so quickly? Something seemed wrong, but she couldn't quite remember what.

Then it came to her. "Neji, doesn't Kabuto use a snakes summon?" Hinata asked, insides twisting with dread. Had she just been watched by the enemy without noticing anything? But no, many people used the snakes summons, Anko for one, and Sasuke. But then again, if it was Anko's summon, she would have let Hinata know. And if it was Sasuke…well, that wouldn't have been very good either. Hinata paled. "Neji?" She asked again, more insistently. What was he doing?

There was no answer, not even an oink. Hinata called for him again and again, each time with a heightening feeling that he was in trouble. She felt faint with fear and her knees were shaking so much she felt like they would buckle at any moment.

_Don't collapse now!_ She told herself. Naruto would never falter if one of his comrades was in danger! Faster than she ever had before, she tore through the forest in search of her cousin and Tonton.

* * *

Kakashi was not pleased. He had been looking forward to this mission, and had prepared for it, despite what he let his students think. But he could never break that long time tradition: always arrive at _least_ an hour after the agreed-upon meeting time. Well, he'd paid for it this time, Kakashi mused, rubbing the back of his neck. Just as he had decided it was time to join his team and head out, Shizune had rounded him up and told him that the mission had been cancelled altogether. Naruto had looked particularly mutinous, and everyone was keeping a close eye on the kid so he wouldn't slip away. They were just making their way back to the Hokage tower and Naruto could not stop complaining to all who would listen.

"Why is the old bag doing this? I want to get Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, as loudly as ever. Sakura finally cracked and hit him against the head hard. Naruto flew back into poor Sai. In the resulting chaos, Kakashi slipped away silently and made it to the Hokage tower without any further interruptions. Before Shizune had taken Kakashi to join with Naruto, Sasuke and Sai, she had told him that Tsunade wanted to speak to him alone. He began to climb the stairs to her office, taking the steps two at a time. He had no idea what was going on and it irked him deeply. Tsunade had a lot to answer for.

He didn't bother knocking and strode into the office, only stopping when his toes brushed the front of her desk. Tsunade looked up from her paperwork to give him an irritated glare, but beneath it he could sense she was worried about something.

"Close the door." Tsunade said tightly. The door shut before Kakashi had a chance to react. Shizune released the doorknob and stood facing them with her arms crossed.

"I think you owe me an explanation just as much as you do Kakashi." Shizune said stubbornly.

Tsunade's eye twitched. "Very well. But you might not like what you hear."

* * *

Hinata's chest heaved as she looked around carefully with her Byakugan. She had arrived at the farm Neji was talking about, but there was still no sign of her cousin or Tonton anywhere, only a handful of farmers working the fields. Suddenly a loud noise like thunder rang in her ears. Hinata shrieked and her hands flew immediately to her ears, which were covered by the headset. Her eyes widened. Was there noise coming from Neji's end? It almost sounded like someone had blown into the mouthpiece.

"Hello? Hello?" Hinata called, her voice desperate to the point of hysteria. What could have happened to him? "N-Neji, are you there?" There was no reply, but for a second Hinata thought she heard strains of whispers coming through.

"Hello?" Hinata's heart nearly stopped when she heard someone speak. It wasn't Neji. The voice was a girl's, sounding quite young, but it was hard to tell over the communicator.

"Wh-Who's this?" Hinata asked coldly. Why did this person have Neji's communicator?

"I'm the farmer's _daughter_, that's who I am." The girl said, and no matter how poor the sound quality was, Hinata could not mistake the tone of high disdain in the girl's voice. "I found this _boy_ here. Is he your Neji? He had this device around his head. Aren't I clever? I figured it out."

Hinata's heart lifted so immensely that her chest cavity felt emptied of it all together. She interrupted the girl's babble. "Yes! Oh, yes! Is he all right?" She asked anxiously. "Where are you?"

"Mm, you should come quickly. He doesn't look too good." The snobby girl didn't sound worried at all, simply bored. "If you follow the path leading away from the farm, you should find me pretty quickly."

"Th-thank you!" Hinata located the path and rushed down it back into the thick forest. Absentmindedly, Hinata thought of how strange it was that the girl had known that she was standing in the farm.

* * *

Tsunade finished telling Kakashi about the farce mission she had almost sent his team out on. If he was angry at being tricked, she could not see it. However, Shizune behind him did notice the stiff tension in his shoulders. The Copy Ninja was pissed.

"What made you recall our mission then?" Kakashi saw Shizune lift up her head in interest and did his best to sound nonchalant. It wouldn't do to lose his temper in front of the Hokage. He wasn't angry at being tricked. More, he was angry that Naruto and Sakura had been tricked. The two wanted to bring Sasuke back to the village more than anything. He knew sometimes the Hokage had to make hard decisions for the good of the village, but this just seemed wrong in so many ways. Not to mention, sending only two young ninjas with hardly enough experience after Sasuke seemed downright careless, even if it _was_ just a tracking mission.

"I think the enemy found out about the missions I was sending after Madara and Sasuke." Tsunade answered quietly, as if she knew what Kakashi was thinking. "There was a snakes summons there." She pointed out the window but Kakashi did not turn his head to look. The patch of exposed skin on his face was flushed red with anger, and the look in his eye was chilling.

Kakashi couldn't take it. "Do you have any idea what the enemy could _do _with that kind of information? Snakes summons. It could be Sasuke. It could even be Kabuto! We…they…" He took a shaking breath and forcibly made himself calm down. When he spoke again, his voice was much quieter. "We have to find Hinata and Neji _now_, before they're killed." They had to assume that Kabuto or Sasuke, or even _both_ knew that at this moment there was a tracking team sent out after Sasuke's team. A _Hyūga _tracking team. Which meant that Sasuke could plan against being captured. It left Neji and Hinata in a very vulnerable position. Whether Kabuto knew that Kakashi's team had ended up not going out on their mission was still unknown, but the potential danger to Hinata and Neji had to be addressed first.

Tsunade nodded grimly. Kakashi had never blamed her outright, but the weight behind his words was unmistakable. She felt guilty enough to be sick, but now was not the time for that. She had to fix this before anyone got hurt. "The only capable ninjas we have available are your ninjas, Kakashi. Get Naruto, Sakura and Sai and find them. Use your ninja dogs, you know what to do."

Kakashi was halfway to the door already. Shizune slipped quickly aside, shooting a worried glance at Tsunade, who was holding her head in her hands.

The moment Kakashi opened the door, Sakura collided into him. Her cheeks was pink and stained with tears. Sai was close behind her, his face more ashen than usual, the beginnings of a black eye beginning to spread.

"Naruto…" Sakura choked. "They took away Naruto."

* * *

Hinata nearly tripped on the uneven path, but she forced herself to keep going. Now she was sure she was definitely hearing faint whispers from the headset. Was the farmer girl with others? _I can't trust her._ Hinata acknowledged grimly. Blinding, overwhelming instinct told her that this girl was probably leading her into a trap.

_So? You know it's probably a trap. Why aren't you going in the _other_ direction?_ An ugly voice inside Hinata's head remarked. Hinata pushed it away. Even if there was only the slightest chance Neji was with the girl and her unknown companions, she would find them. But it would not do to go in unprepared. They were very close, she could tell. With her Byakugan Hinata could see signs of nearby chakra. Hinata made herself stop in the shadow of a tree, and draw upon her chakra. Almost immediately, the girl's voice rang in her ears again.

"Are you coming already?" She asked impatiently. Hinata frowned. So they were watching her, even as her hands began to glow blue with chakra. The girl had seen her stop moving towards them, and was checking to make sure she didn't suspect anything.

"I'm c-coming." Hinata made herself say. "J-Just a bit t-tired, that's all." She purposefully made her stutter more pronounced. The weaker they believed her to be, the greater her advantage. She had found out long ago how she could use her inborn timid mannerisms to her advantage. People underestimated her naturally. Done preparing, Hinata took a deep breath and walked briskly away from the tree. A bit farther down the path and she was in a bright clearing in the forest. In the middle of it, lying in a pool of blood, clearly dead, was Neji. _It's not real. _The moment seemed to stretch on for decades. _It's not real. _Hinata saw his torn and bloody face, and his blank eyes.

The voice in her head was ignored. Like the Hyūga she was, she could only trust her eyes. Hinata heard herself scream, and felt herself run towards him. Even as she did, she came to her senses and realized she had been tricked. But the time it took to dispel the genjutsu was all it took for the enemy to swoop down on her. The illusion of Neji's dead body disappeared as she twisted sideways, narrowly dodging a slash made by the most enormous sword she had ever seen. The boy holding it was her age, dressed in purple with white hair and a shark grin.

Hinata swiveled and formed a chakra barrier around herself to block a blow from behind her. She had seen the orange haired boy come at her just in time with her Byakugan. The immensity of his chakra distracted her eyes, and, caught unawares, she felt a presence land behind her quicker than lightning. Hands grabbed her arms and twisted them sharply behind her back. With her Byakugan, Hinata was able to see a pair of red Sharingan set in the face of a man who was no longer familiar to her.

"Hyūga Hinata." Uchiha Sasuke said softly. "Welcome to Team Taka."

* * *

Review, or the devil take you. Thanks for everyone who reviewed last time, I really appreciate it. I'm having fun jumping perspectives like this, but I understand if it gets pretty annoying, so after I set down some more important setting points hopefully the perspective-hopping will die down a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

I've raised the rating on this to T. There's nothing *too* gruesome in this chapter, but I just want to be on the safe side for the future. Sorry for any inconvenience.

* * *

Chapter 3

Sai tugged the dark hood over his face, hiding the bright purple-black bruise over his eye. He wasn't sure if Danzo had told the rest of Root that Sai wasn't allowed to see Naruto. But if there was one flaw in the organization of Root, it was communication. All that secrecy backfired on them. Members of Root did not communicate with each other much; it was mostly solo missions with Danzo telling them face to face what they had to do. Sai only knew a handful of members from the ANBU subdivision and even then only by codename. Other than that, each member stayed relatively anonymous from his peers. It was said that only Danzo knew each members' identity. That way if one member was captured he couldn't divulge the identities of the other members. Therefore, word traveled around very slowly. If he acted now, Sai would probably get to see Naruto.

_Naruto_… Sai's thoughts were suddenly scattered. With alarm, he realized he was reliving the moments in which Naruto had been captured. _Is this what they call a…flashback?_ Sai mused curiously. He remembered arguing with Naruto loudly. There was something that made him want to anger the blonde ninja, to rile him up. _I was teasing him_, Sai corrected himself. Teasing, he had read, was a normal occurrence in any friendly relationship. Sai was happy he had graduated to teasing ability quite a while ago, but only with Naruto and Sakura.

Suddenly there had been hands on Naruto, restraining him. A dark cloaked ninja. He had told them that Naruto was going to be taken to see his master. He had done some kind of ninjutsu, and then Naruto's wild blue eyes had rolled back in his head. The boy slumped in his captor's arms.

Of course, Sakura and Sai had tried to rescue Naruto. Sai had gotten a blow to his face for it, and the ninja had still gotten away. Sakura had thrown a kunai at him in desperation, but the ninja had blocked it with his tanto. It was then that Sai had realized that Danzo was behind this. All Root ninjas were issued a standard tanto, a short double-edged katana. Sai himself had one. It was true that other ninjas carried them sometimes, but the coincidence was too much to be merely an accident.

Danzo had captured Naruto. Danzo. Sai could still feel Sakura's fingers digging into his arm in shock.

Sai caught a look at his reflection in a passing window and he stopped walking. The visible part of his face was flushed red with _rage_. His hands were even curled into fists! There wasn't an enemy in sight, and he hadn't even physically exerted himself recently. _I hope I'm not sick_, he thought to himself, and walked on until he reached the Root headquarters. From outside, the building looked like an inconspicuous civilian home. Still, Sai looked around carefully before slipping in through the unlocked door. Immediately, the ninja guard waiting inside pried Sai's mouth open. Sai let him, sticking out his tongue farther so that the ninja could see Danzo's cursed seal mark imprinted there. The guard nodded and released Sai. Without even a twitch, Sai continued walking down the stairs that led to the secret catacombs under the village.

Danzo required each member of Root to have that cursed seal. It was of simple design: three thick bars and two broken ones. It not only identified one as a Root member, for those who knew where to look, but it also gave Root its secrecy. With the cursed seal, no one could talk about Danzo, at all. That was why Sai hadn't been able to tell anyone that Danzo had been behind Naruto's capture. Hopefully Tsunade would be able to figure that out on her own.

Sai's mind wandered again as he traveled down the damp, dim torch lit corridors of the catacombs. In actuality, the underground caverns were not _quite_ secret. In fact, they were infamously legendary. Every child in the village knew about the catacombs. How to get in was an entirely different matter. Danzo guarded every entrance fastidiously. The old man was rather good at secrecy, Sai acknowledged grudgingly. There had never been an intruder.

_Would I count as an intruder? After all, it's not like I'm working in Danzo's best interests right now_…

Sai surfaced from his thoughts long enough to make a sharp turn into a narrow tunnel. He had to hunch over to avoid scraping against the slimy walls, grateful that he was not claustrophobic. At the end of the tunnel, he crouched down and gripped the cold iron bars of Naruto's tiny cell. At least the air was not so dank here; there was probably an air vent nearby. But there was still virtually no light at all and hardly any space. Sai found himself wondering what it would be like to live in such conditions, and involuntarily shuddered in distaste. _Empathy_, he identified triumphantly. This had been a good day for learning new emotions.

"Naruto?" Sai called out softly.

There was the sound of stirring and a groan but other than that, Naruto did not reply.

* * *

Hinata cast her eyes downwards and forced back tears. _I failed. I was captured by the enemy. I didn't even manage to rescue Neji._

The thought of her cousin violently brought her out of her depression. She confronted Sasuke. "Where's Neji? What did you do to him?" Hinata had to twist around painfully to look Sasuke in the eye. Not for the first time did she wish she had a more intimidating voice than her high-pitched, squeaky one. Sasuke did not look impressed with her vehemence.

"He's with us, nearby." He said impassively, staring down at Hinata. She shivered slightly when she saw the coldness in his eyes. This man truly felt nothing. And she had thought Neji was expressionless.

_Neji_. Hinata closed her eyelids and tried to concentrate. She could see him! He was some ways behind them, his chakra was still flowing, albeit a bit slowly. He must have used up quite a lot defending himself. But his arm was twisted at an abnormal angle, and his entire right sleeve was stained red. Hinata anxiously tried to look for more injuries, but suddenly she was pushed forward roughly. Her eyes shot open and she lost her concentration. Sasuke had pushed her into the arms of the orange-haired boy.

"Jūgo, make sure she doesn't get away. Let's get going." Hinata was able to see Sasuke fully. She could see almost nothing of the old Sasuke in him. He was wearing the cloak of the Akatsuki now. Hinata wondered with a stab of pain how Naruto would feel on seeing his friend taking up the hated organization's colors.

"What did you do to him? His arm's broken…" Hinata whimpered, addressing the red haired kunoichi. She felt drained and empty. Neji was hurt.

"How do you know that?" The girl demanded in a familiar voice. Hinata realized that it must have been her voice she had heard over the communicator. She was holding Neji's headset in her hands. Hinata felt so stupid. She had charged straight into the trap, even while knowing fully that it _was_ a trap! If she had planned it out more, she could have found Neji and got them both back to the village.

"They're her eyes." Hinata heard Sasuke say, and then suddenly he was right in front of her, bent down so close that she felt his breath on her forehead. He lightly rested his fingertips around Hinata's eye, as if about to pluck them straight out of her skull. Hinata shrank back as much as she could into Jūgo. "These eyes are the keys to destroying Konoha." He said it so softly and yet Hinata knew that everyone in the clearing had heard him loud and clear. Sasuke's fingernails suddenly dug into the skin around her eye, leaving a ring of marks.

* * *

The kunoichi's name was Karin. The white-haired one was Suigetsu. He was still holding the ridiculously large sword, but it didn't seem like he was having any trouble holding it. The two bickered constantly, and Hinata was invariably reminded of Sakura and Naruto. But no, Hinata reminded herself bitterly, Naruto and Sakura cared for each other. It was obvious these two did not.

Hinata lifted her hand slowly, aware that Jūgo was watching her warily, to gingerly touch her eye. Sasuke's nails had drawn blood, and there was some beginning to drip off her eyelashes. She wondered how bizarre her injury looked.

Hinata clenched her fists and reminded herself not to give up. Neji needed her.

Sasuke seemed to know that Hinata wasn't planning on running away any time soon because he let her walk free in the watchful gaze of Jūgo. The towering boy still had not said anything, and Hinata wondered not for the first time why such a gentle person was following Sasuke.

It was still unclear where they were taking her, and Hinata did not want to risk asking. She tried to keep her head down and think on a plan, but so far she had nothing except questions. What could Sasuke possibly want with her Byakugan when he had the Sharingan? Why her, and not Neji? And _where_ was he taking her?

They were getting closer to Neji. Hinata saw a smoking campfire, some bedrolls, and then nothing else. Her eyes were immediately riveted to Neji, who was slumped against a tree, his face pale as milk. "N-neji!" Hinata tried to run towards him, but Suigetsu grabbed her arm tightly. She winced. He was definitely stronger than he looked.

"N-Neji!" Suigetsu mimicked in her high stuttering voice and snickered. Hinata tried to ignore him, but she knew she was blushing fiercely.

"Let me just make sure he's okay." Hinata said, keeping her voice as even as she could.

Sasuke regarded her with his cold eyes. "Karin, Jūgo, Suigetsu, make sure the Hyūga is okay and that he stays put. Hinata and I will go get some food." Karin looked like she was going to argue, but decided against it and went to crouch down next to Neji. Hinata stiffened; she didn't want _any_ of them touching Neji. But before she could make sure of anything, Sasuke had his hand at the small of her back and he was steering her away from the camp.

Hinata tried to think. She was alone with Sasuke. _When we get far away enough, I'll strike._

* * *

Tsunade tried to appear calm as she sipped her sake. She was being watched. And this time it wasn't some enemy's animal summons. She was under surveillance of Konoha ninjas. The irony was just killing her.

_I have to throw them off. I need to tell Kakashi what I know. This whole thing reeks of Danzo._

There was a knock at the door. Shizune walked in, sporting a faintly fake cheery smile. Tsunade handed her a file. "Take this to the hospital." She said. She leaned forward to straighten some papers on the edge of her desk. Shizune leaned forward as well, as if to help her.

"Take it to Kakashi, at the battle memorial." Tsunade whispered, trying to move her lips as little as possible.

Shizune gave no sign that she had heard, but as she walked away from the office she discreetly lifted the file's cover. Inside, resting on a stack of blank papers, was a tiny blue slug. Shizune smiled and walked on towards the memorial.

* * *

"Hurry up." Sasuke said to Hinata because she was lingering, trying to get a bearings on where they were. Was there really somewhere to get food nearby? _I have to get away from him before we get too far away from Neji._

She didn't have to wait long for an opening. When Sasuke bent down to pick something up from the ground, she jabbed a chakra loaded palm at the chakra node located at the back of his neck. He rolled away from the blow and pulled out his katana, but not before she leaped at him with another blow.

Her palm stopped two inches away from his heart. Sasuke had the katana between them; one move and it would slice through her throat. With her Byakugan she could see sparks of chakra running down the blade. Hinata gulped audibly.

"An impasse." He said blankly, as if noting a curious change in the weather. He began to draw his katana back. Hinata took this as a sign that he was retreating, so she withdrew her palm as well. She saw his eyes gleam too late. He had her pinned face first against a tree, both arms locked behind her back. She bit back a gasp of pain as the rough wood carved into her cheek.

"I need you alive." He said. "The Byakugan has everything the Sharingan doesn't. With them both I can crush Konoha. You're valuable to me, but just your eyes. Don't push it." All of a sudden Sasuke's voice was breathless, maniacal almost. Hinata screwed her eyes shut tight in terror. She felt him pushing her harder into the wood. She was sure her cheek was beginning to bruise.

"Naruto." Hinata muttered, her words partly muffled by the tree.

"What?" he said, lessening the weight on her some, so that she could turn her head around and look at him directly. There was no semblance of expression in his voice anymore.

"Naruto will make sure you don't, even if he is your friend, he'll make sure you don't _touch_ Konoha." She said quietly, but with such passion that it startled even her. Where was this fire coming from? Was it because she knew how much Sasuke meant to Naruto? In any case, her reply made Sasuke completely back away from her. She turned around fully and continued on.

"Why are you doing this? Aren't you a Konoha ninja? Weren't you once Naruto's comrade? Don't you know how much he's been working just to see you come back to the village?" It seemed Hinata's inhibitions were being erased by the adrenaline. She walked right up to Sasuke and glared up at him. Even he seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanor.

"Do you love him?" Sasuke asked ironically.

Hinata felt a cold wave wash over her, as if she'd been hit by an icy wind. She felt her Byakugan deactivate itself as the adrenaline died away. "Wh-what?" she stuttered, backing away. He just smirked.

"Enough. Let's go get some food. And if you attack me again, your cousin dies." He said with the same exact smirking expression and turned around to walk, leaving behind a shivering Hinata.

* * *

Blessed be whoever invented Narutopedia. Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It was done a day or two before but ffnet was blocked on the computer I was using, can you believe it? Well, hopefully this chapter was okay, it was a pain to write for some reason. Please review! And oh my God, when I uploaded this for some reason, it got rid of all the spaces between the paragraphs! Sorry if you saw that... I tried to fix it as quickly as possible.


	4. Chapter 4

Anyone see Sai in the last chapter? Sort of fell in love with him there.

* * *

Chapter 4

Neji woke to something warm being pushed into his mouth. He pulled open his eyelids with great effort; they felt like they'd been glued tight shut.  
A hand. Someone's hand was in his mouth. As he watched, it pressed harder past his lips and its skin was pierced by his teeth. He tasted blood, but he also felt a sort of energy flow into him. He came fully awake with such force it felt like he'd been hit by an avalanche.

"What the—?" Neji recoiled, backing away from the hand. He almost fell flat on his back. His arms and legs were bound with chakra resistant rope. It would be no easy feat to escape with these on. He swept back the hair from over his eyes and now he could see the fire-haired girl, unrolling her sleeve to cover up the bite mark on her wrist. Through her apparent exhaustion, he could tell she was annoyed.

"Don't _scream_, okay? I just healed you. Look at your arm." She said, rolling her eyes and pointing. It was only after she sank to the ground with a tired sigh that he thought it safe to slowly turn his head to look. His arm—he didn't even remember wounding it—was resealing itself. He gulped as the bone straightened out. He could move it without any pain now.

_What happened? Why am I here?_ Neji concentrated, trying to remember what had happened before he blacked out.

_He was running through the forest to the farm to meet up with Hinata. The pig, Tonton, was in his arms. Each time he looked down at her, he had to risk a small smile. The pig's name reminded him so much of his teammate's, Tenten. _

_All of a sudden she squealed softly, urgently, and he stopped as sharply as if a string had pulled him back. Neji did not make a sound. He focused his Byakugan, and then he could see four shinobi coming his way._

"_Warn Hinata." Neji said, hastily. He remembered putting Tonton on the ground. He did not watch to see if she went, because by then, they were already on him. They stood in the branches, watching him. _

"_Four against one?" He called out._

"_Only to save time!" The one with the shark grin said that, laughing. _

"_Too afraid to fight fair?" Neji retorted, without feeling. He was stalling, so that Tonton would have time to reach Hinata. If his cousin made it all the way to the farm, she would probably be taken as well. _

"_Hey, Sasuke, can I chop him up some?" Suigetsu's sharp teeth spread into a bloodthirsty grin. He accented it by lifted his sword threateningly._

"_We need him to be alive, you dolt." The red-haired kunoichi rolled her eyes._

"_What did you call me, Karin?" Suigetsu glared at her from across the clearing. "You know, you've been in a real foul mood today. Just because Sasuke doesn't tell you everything, doesn't mean you need to throw a hissy fit about it." _

"_You're one to talk!" Karin shrieked. "You—"_

"_That's enough." This time it was the tall orange haired one who spoke. For such a huge guy, his voice was surprisingly gentle. The two ninjas immediately quieted down. Neji wished they hadn't. Their arguing had been an effective way of stretching time, if nothing else._

"_How did you find me?" Neji asked, facing Sasuke this time. "I should have seen you coming." _

"_We got our chakras masked." Suigetsu answered, grinning again. "I thought Sasuke was just being paranoid, but it really did let us sneak right up on you!" The boy doubled over in laughter._

"_You knew we were coming? How?" Neji asked. Even before the question was out of his mouth, he knew the answer. It had been the snake that Hinata saw. Sasuke had known they were coming from the very beginning._

"_Enough talking." Sasuke said. They were the first words he had spoken. His tone was enough for Neji to draw chakra to his palms and get ready. Hopefully Hinata had gotten far enough away by now…_

"Hey!" Karin's voice roused him out of his thoughts. He glared at her coldly, then looked around the clearing. He only saw two other people, the boys from before. He felt himself relax slightly. Hinata wasn't here. She was on her way to Konoha with all luck.

But something was wrong.

"Where is Uchiha?" He asked with all the dignity of a ninja captured and bound by enemies. He still didn't know why he was alive. For some reason, Sasuke had spared him, even let him recover. What did he want? Information? Neji's lip curled. There was no way he would give _any_ information to him.

"Sasuke went off with—" The girl stopped talking when the white-haired boy, Suigetsu, cleared his throat loudly and made a swiping gesture at his throat. "He went to… get food." She corrected clumsily. Neji's eyes narrowed in suspicion. He went off with what?

He turned his attention back to the other two shinobi. They were around his age, all of them were, and they were sitting a ways off around a small fire. The huge orange-haired one was industriously poking away at the logs, slowly making the fire bigger. He still didn't know that one's name. Suigetsu was lazily flicking invisible specks of dust off of his huge sword, which was balanced on one knee.

Neji tried not to shiver. Between the time that had passed from when he had blacked out and now, dusk had fallen and the day's heat was slowly disappearing.

The girl must have noticed him looking around because she got up and motioned for him to sit by the fire. "You might as well get warmed up."

He regarded her coolly. "Untie me, and I will."

Suigetsu laughed loudly. "When Sasuke comes back, I doubt you'll want to run away. Until then, the ropes stay."

Neji blinked in confusion. _What an odd thing to say. Why would I not want to run away? _

"Jūgo. Help him." Karin said imperiously. She went to go sit by the fire.

Neji realized that she had been referring to the orange-haired boy, because he stood up from the campfire and walked towards him. Neji tensed up, wishing he had some way of defending himself. Jūgo stopped, holding up his hands. "Easy, I'm not going to hurt you."

Karin sighed in exasperation. "He isn't one of your birds, Jūgo. Just grab him."

After giving him a vaguely apologetic smile, Jūgo grabbed the back of Neji's shirt and lifted him up as if he weighed nothing, carried him to the fire, and put him down gently in comfortable range of the fire, which had begun to crackle cheerfully. Neji tried not to cringe. He just had to bear with this…less than desirable situation until Sasuke came back. If what Suigetsu had said was true, he would be untied then. But the question was, did he want to wait until then? If he tried to leave now, while the odds were only three to one, he'd have a better chance of escaping.

He briefly assessed his situation. _Hands bound. Feet bound. Healed arm, still stiff. Small scratches, at least fifteen. Covered in blood, mostly my own. Massive headache. Bruised left shoulder. Burn on right leg. No internal bleeding. No broken bones. No concussion._

All things considered, he was in pretty good shape. If he could just get rid of the ropes on his feet he had a decent chance of getting away.

"When is Sasuke going to get here? I'm starving!" Karin whined, resting her chin in her hands glumly. Neji internally sighed in annoyance. Such complaining would never have been tolerated in any ninja squad, at least not one that _he_ approved of. But then again, nothing about this team was conservative. There was Jūgo, whose gentle demeanor completely contradicted his monstrous strength. Then there was Suigetsu, who seemed to be more shark than boy sometimes. And that sword of his had to be heavier than he was! Also, Karin. Her peculiar style of healing disgusted him, not to mention her blatant disregard for the ninja way of hiding one's emotions. And, of course, there was Sasuke, their leader. Neji had never encountered another team quite like them. If he ever made it back to the village, he would have a lot to tell Tsunade.

Suigetsu looked up from admiring the way his sword caught the firelight and addressed Neji. "So what's up with those eyes anyway?"

"Suigetsu." Jūgo cautioned quietly. He did not look up from the fire.

Suigetsu ignored the comment. "I mean, what's so special about them? They're so creepy. I don't know why Sasuke is so obsessed with them when he already has the Sharingan."

"_Hey_!" Karin yelled loudly grabbing the front of Suigetsu's shirt threateningly. "You want to tell him _everything_ about Sasuke's plans, idiot?"

Jūgo stood up from the fire looking as if he planned on separating the two, and that was when Neji acted.

_This conversation is interesting, but I think it's time for me to leave._ Neji scooted closer to the fire as if trying to get warmer. He extended his bound feet slowly into the fire until the ropes singed enough for him to pull free. _Chakra resistant they may be, but not flame resistant_, he thought with satisfaction. The skin around his ankles and on his feet got a bit burnt as well, but at least now the rope was weak enough for him to pull them apart.

He leapt to his feet, hands still tied behind his back, and aimed a kick at Jūgo. It caught him square in the ribs, and he went flying straight into Karin and Suigetsu. A Hyūga not able to use his hands was severely handicapped, but that didn't mean his taijutsu still wasn't formidable.

Before the three had a chance to untangle themselves for a counterattack, Neji leaped over the fire and ran straight for the darkened cover of trees. He saw a shimmering on the ground, as if he was running over a stream. No, water was flowing out beneath his feet, forming into a pool directly in front of him. Neji stopped. The pool of water shot upwards and formed into Suigetsu. The shark grin never vanished as the boy raised his sword and swung it at Neji.

"You're not supposed to hurt him Suigetsu!" Karin yelled but it was in vain. Neji leaped up, and felt the massive blade slash under his feet. He landed on the flat of the blade and kicked at Suigetsu. Before he could make contact, the boy swung the sword back sharply, catapulting Neji straight into a tree. He had no control of his hands, so Neji was not able to twist away. There was a loud cracking noise as his back impacted the tree trunk and the wood splintered and broke. But before he could slide all the ways down to the ground and probably break his neck, Neji drew chakra to the soles of his feet and stuck himself to the tree. He looked down at Suigetsu, Jūgo, and Karin, his body completely parallel to the ground. Then, he turned around, ran up the tree, and began to leap through the forest and away.

As he ran, he tried to wrap his mind around a plan. They would find him; he couldn't hide. One of them was a chakra sensor, Tsunade had told him that. And judging by the quick and seamless way they had found him earlier today, this was no ordinary chakra sensor. He still didn't know which one of them it was however. He wished he could mask his chakra, as they had done before. But masking one's chakra was no ordinary ability. It must be one that came with the ability to sense and track chakra. If…

Neji saw a pink blur shoot past him. He stopped his flight, only to find himself staring at a small, pink pig dressed in a red jumper. Tonton.

"Tonton." Neji breathed, leaning back heavily against the tree in relief and exhaustion. "Please tell me you found Hinata in time and you came back just to tell me that."

The quiet and high-pitched oink seemed to say, _Define 'in time'_.

* * *

Sasuke led the way to a small town, probably only a few minutes away from the farm Hinata had seen earlier. During the whole time they were going there, she stayed a distance away, head down. Several times she felt his eyes on her, but if she looked up she only saw him walking with his back turned to her.

They stopped at a hill that looked over the town. As far as rural towns went, this one was not that small, made mostly of farmers and craftsmen. Right now the entire town was preparing for the Midsummer's festival, which would be coming up soon. Children ran around helping their parents in putting up decorations and fixing up the town. Hinata felt alienated from such a happy scene. Her cousin was in trouble, and she was afraid of what Sasuke's plans for her might be. How could she celebrate?

She snuck a glance at the boy. Sasuke's eyes were shadowed by his dark hair. It was impossible to see what he thought of the merry going-ons below them.

"Come on." He began to make his way down the hill. Going down it was steep and her feet kept sliding on the loose dirt. By the time she made it down, Sasuke was already walking into a tavern, the only place still open. The rest of the shops had closed early as people began to decorate for the festival. The tavern remained open so that people could get a bite to eat as they worked.

When she stepped inside, Sasuke was already at the counter, bargaining with the tavern keeper. The tables in the place were sparsely occupied by villagers getting in some food and drink before they finished up the day's work. Hinata came to stand a little ways behind him, looking down at her feet. As Sasuke paid the man for some sandwiches, Hinata felt like she was stuck in some dream where everything was wrong and opposite of what it should be. He was her enemy! He had been the one to hurt Naruto so much that the boy had to be bandaged nearly head to toe. He had joined Orochimaru, one of the most despised ninjas to ever have come from Konoha. And now he was planning on destroying her very own village.

_Why? Why leave the village, why try to destroy it?_ When Sasuke had left to join up with Orochimaru, the official reason given to them was that he had done it for power, and revenge. Naruto had left shortly after that, and they hadn't been able to ask him if that was really true. But now Itachi had been killed by Sasuke's own hand. Why was Sasuke trying to destroy Konoha? And how did this link to Madara and Kabuto?

_And why are you cooperating with him_? The ugly voice inside Hinata whispered. _You should be attacking him right now, or trying to escape so that you can get word to Tsunade. Is Neji's life really worth the lives of all the villagers?_ Hinata quelled the traitorous thoughts, feeling horribly guilty about even thinking of betraying her cousin. Naruto would have never turned his back on the life of a comrade, no matter what. There had to be some way for them both to get out of this without betraying the village.

As they waited for the tavern keeper to make their food, Sasuke sat down on one of the small tables at the window. After a while, Hinata built up her confidence enough to sit down opposite of him. _Just come out and ask him, Hinata. He won't kill you here in here…probably._

The girl took a deep breath. "Tell me what you w-want with Neji and me." She said in a faltering voice.

He turned his attention away from the window and fixed his eyes on hers. His expression was unfathomable. She noticed his eyes were void of any trace of the Sharingan; now they were a dark black. She, too, had dissolved her Byakugan before they had entered the town. It was mostly out of habit. Having the bulging veins on her face usually unnerved civilians.

His reply took Hinata completely by surprise. "The Hyūga clan and the Uchiha clan have a lot in common. We both outlive the making of Konoha by centuries. The Sharingan and the Byakugan are both two of the great dōjutsu, the ocular bloodline techniques." He said this in a calm, quiet voice. "Imagine…if their powers were _combined_. I could do anything."

Hinata found it especially hard to form words. "Th-that's i-impossible." She squeaked.

"There are many things Orochimaru researched." Was all Sasuke said. Hinata wondered if he was bluffing. Was there really a way to _combine_ the Sharingan and the Byakugan?

Hinata bit her lip. If such a way existed, it couldn't need more than one Byakugan user, right? Sasuke didn't need both her and Neji. "Set Neji free. I-I'll do whatever it is you n-need me to do." She said quietly, looking down at her lap. Would he say yes?

Sasuke didn't say anything, because the tavern keeper chose that moment to come over with their food. He handed them a bag of sandwiches. "For the lovely couple." The tavern keeper smiled. Sasuke made an almost amused noise in the back of his throat.

Hinata turned bright red. "W-we aren't—!" Before she could finish correcting the man's mistake, Sasuke grabbed her elbow and pulled her out of her chair. With the other hand he was holding the bag of food. He led them both out of the tavern, where dropped Hinata's arm and began to walk briskly away. The tavern door closed on the man's loud chuckling.

Hinata waited a long while before starting after him. The cool wind felt soothing on her burning cheeks. She took a moment to calm down.

Light was fading fast, and Hinata took a final deep breath and hurried quickly after Sasuke so that she wouldn't lose sight of him.

* * *

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke watched as Hinata stumbled towards him. The girl was weak. It was a wonder she was still a ninja. She got nervous too easily. She had fallen for the illusion of her supposedly dead comrade like a gullible child. And yet…

And yet she was willing to sacrifice herself for her cousin. She didn't even know how he was planning on harvesting the Byakugan's power. For all she knew, it could be horribly painful, or mutilating, or even fatal. But the girl was willing to go through with it.

Speaking of which, Sasuke still had to find out how Orochimaru had done it, combining the Sharingan and the Byakugan. When he had still been with Madara, Kabuto had pulled him aside and told him about it. But he had not told him the specific procedures.

After that, he had admittedly become obsessed with the Byakugan. It had so much that the Sharingan lacked. The power to see the chakra pathways, the ability to see over long distances and through solid objects. The Sharingan was many things, but it was not long distance. Not like the Byakugan was.

"_Bring back a member of the Hy__ū__ga clan. Then I will give you the Byakugan's powers._" That was what Kabuto had told him. He did not trust the man, not by a long shot. He had somehow gotten hold of Orochimaru's powers, and was beginning to resemble the deceased sannin more and more. _But if he tries anything funny, I'll see it coming with the Sharingan_, Sasuke told himself.

He turned his attention back to Hinata. Her face was still slightly flushed from before. Had the comment angered her? Or just embarrassed her? He knew now that her heart was devoted to Naruto. _Not that I care_.

"So?" Hinata said, finally having caught up with him. "Do you let Neji go or not?"

Sasuke felt his mouth twist into a sneer. The girl didn't know what she was asking. "I will." He would let her Neji go back to the village, but not completely. He figured that if Hinata was willing to do anything for Neji, Neji had to be willing to do anything for Hinata in turn. Such bonds after all were usually mutual. He could have Neji infiltrate the Konoha system, bring back useful information that he could use to weaken the village from the inside. Neji would refuse to do it at first, of course, but when he learned that Hinata's life was on the line…

Oblivious to his plans, Hinata let out a sigh of relief. The two of them walked back to the clearing in silence.

* * *

Sorry for the lateness. I was away for most of the week, you see. I'm happy that this chapter is longer. Getting some of the plot worked out slowly. Hope it all makes sense. Thanks for everyone who reviewed last time, and if you didn't review last time, you still hae the chance to do it for this chapter! Yay!


	5. Chapter 5

I have found the perfect song to describe the way I think about how Hinata and Sasuke's relationship would be: "Unintended" by Muse. What do you think?

* * *

Chapter 5

Neji kneaded his pounding forehead with his knuckles. Tonton had managed to take a kunai from his pouch with her teeth and cut the ropes, surprisingly without slicing his skin. But time was running out. He could see Suigetsu, Jūgo and Karin coming closer.

"They haven't seen you yet." he told Tonton. "You can still go and get word to the village." He dug in his pouch for a scrap of paper and a stub of a pencil and hurriedly wrote a note. He tucked it inside Tonton's jumper. "Don't fail me." he told the pig. She oinked and then leaped away. Déjà vu. Only this afternoon had he sent Tonton on a similar mission while his enemies bore down on him. Hopefully Tonton's message would get there successfully this time. He felt a sort of wave of satisfaction wash over him, and with it came an almost surreal jolt of adrenaline. _No more running away. I have to fight them._

Neji turned around to face his opponents. He knew his chakra stores were more than half depleted. The chances of winning this battle were slim. All the same, Neji knew there was no other choice. Jūgo was there first, with his longer legs. But he was joined almost immediately by Karin and Suigetsu.

"You know you're really starting to piss me off." Suigetsu grinned. He shrugged his shoulder, and the sword that had been resting there slid off. The tip of it crashed into the tree branch with a sickening crash.

Again, Neji marveled at how a skinny boy could lift such an enormous sword. He wished he could have brought back more information to the Hokage. _I can't let them capture me_. He took a deep breath, and without warning leaped straight at Suigetsu, palm extended.

The white-haired boy leaped backwards away from Neji, catching the Gentle Fist attack on his sword. Neji cursed. Suigetsu was not only able to wield such a large sword, he was also able to wield it with a formidable amount of agility. Neji did not let this deter him for long. The two boys landed on the forest floor. Suigetsu slashed the sword at him with terrifying speed. Neji managed to duck under Suigetsu's sword as it came towards him to aim a few well-placed jabs at his sword arm. He only managed to brush the skin, but he successfully injected his chakra and blocked all of the chakra pathways in Suigetsu's right arm. He jumped away immediately.

Suigetsu laughed. "You hit like a gi—" Suigetsu's laugh stopped abruptly. The enormous sword dropped to the ground, and Suigetsu crumpled under its weight. He stood up slowly, his sword left on the ground and stared at his arm in horror. "What…did you do to me? I can't lift my sword anymore!"

Neji allowed himself a small smile. "I blocked all the chakra nodes in that arm. Whatever jutsu that was letting you lift your sword, it won't work anymore."

While Suigetsu gathered his wits, Neji used the time to glance back at Jūgo and Karin. Karin watched with an almost bored expression, and Jūgo seemed to be turned away in disgust. He doubted Karin would enter the battle. Even before when he had first been captured, she had stayed at the edges of the battle. She was a chakra sensor and a medical ninja, obviously not a combat-type. Jūgo on the other hand was more worrisome. Neji had a feeling he was hiding something. There had to be _some _important reason why Sasuke had chosen him to be a part of his little team.

Neji turned his attention back to Suigetsu. The boy had picked up the sword with his other hand, and swung the blade at him. Neji was unpleasantly surprised to find out that Suigetsu was just as fast with his opposite hand. Even though he saw the attack coming with his Byakugan, Neji barely managed to avoid it in time. His body was still stiff from the beating he'd gotten earlier. When he dodged, his back collided with a tree trunk. He was cornered! Suigetsu slashed at him again. In desperation, Neji pulled out a kunai and blocked the blade an inch from his torso. He nearly gasped in pain. Suigetsu was _strong_. His arm shook as he tried to keep the sword from touching him. Suigetsu's startling violet eyes were dancing with glee. Finally, Neji's arm gave way. If he had not twisted away in time, the blade would have slashed right through his gut. Part of the blow was caught on the wood of the tree, but he still felt a white-hot shooting pain erupt from his back. Neji bit down on a scream of pain.

"That's enough, Suigetsu." Jūgo told him. Neji barely heard him. He was down on one knee, trying to get control of his body again.

"Don't worry. Karin can just patch him up." Suigetsu replied. He examined his red-tipped blade with interest.

"What do I look like, a hospital?" Karin shrieked.

By that time, Neji had struggled to his feet. He turned to face Suigetsu. He noted absently that blood was running down his back and the backs of his legs. Was this the end?

He watched Suigetsu's blade swing towards him with a feeling of resignation. He had fought to the limit. If he wasn't killed now, he would die soon from blood loss. His chakra reserves were completely drained. Even now, it was an effort just to keep his Byakugan open.

_Hinata…_ He felt his eyes begin to close.

Suddenly Neji caught a blur of orange and blue movement from between his eyelids. Jūgo stood in front of him. He had stopped Suigetsu's sword with one hand.

"Oh, come _on_!" Suigetsu yelled, trying to pull his sword out of Jūgo's grasp. It was useless. "Just this one, Jūgo? Sasuke won't mind! He already has another Hyūga to rip eyeballs out of."

Neji's own eyes snapped open. He couldn't just abandon Hinata like this. Even if Tonton was able to get reinforcements from Konoha, who knew what Sasuke would do to Hinata in the meantime? Rip her eyeballs out? With the greatest amount of effort he had ever expended, Neji lunged at Suigetsu, jabbing chakra-loaded fingertips at all the chakra nodes he could reach. He was just about to send a lethal jolt of chakra to Suigetsu's heart, when his body finally decided to give way. He and Suigetsu fell to the ground simultaneously.

Everything went black.

* * *

Sasuke found Hinata's silence unnerving. She wasn't staring at the ground anymore. Her head was held up, chin out, and eyes looking straight ahead. He noticed she was carefully avoiding looking at him. All the same, there was a strange determination in those eyes.

Night had well and truly fallen now. It was a clear cloudless night. The bright moonlight made the purple highlights in her hair stand out and her pale skin glowed with shadows.

He didn't have time to study her further. Suddenly Hinata gave a small gasp, urgent and quick, and then she took off running as if a pack of wolves were at her heels. Sasuke's brow twitched quizzically. She wouldn't try to escape while her cousin was still in captivity right? So where was she going? Sasuke hefted the bag of food higher and ran after her. He spotted Karin's conspicuous red hair atop a tree branch above.

Sasuke landed down next to her. "What's going on?" He asked.

Karin looked startled to find him there. "Nothing! Suigetsu just messed up again."

Sasuke looked down at the scene below them. Neji and Suigetsu lay unconscious on the ground. Suigetsu appeared unharmed, except for a line of blood trailing down from his mouth. On the other hand, Neji looked utterly battered. There was a small pool of blood beginning to form around him. Jūgo loomed above the two bodies. In his hand he was clutching Suigetsu's sword by the blade, looking utterly lost and confused.

"Neji!" Hinata ran into the clearing to kneel at Neji's side. She cupped her cousin's face in her hands and turned it towards her. "Neji…" she said again, her voice thick with emotion. Sasuke heard Karin snort with derision next to him.

"Blood…" Jūgo said slowly. Sasuke's eyes flicked towards him. "Did I…did I _kill_ them?" The orange-haired boy's voice was quiet and eerily calm, and Sasuke knew what was going to happen even before the blazing red curse marks crept over Jūgo's skin. "_Kill_!" The boy roared. Sasuke was already in motion. He tossed the bag of food at Karin and dove to the forest floor. His arms closed around Hinata's slight form and he pushed both of them out of the way seconds before Jūgo's fist pounded the air they had been occupying a split second before.

Sasuke had barely enough time to notice that Hinata's pale eyes were wide with shock, staring with such intensity that it seemed as if she was seeing right through him. He twisted around, Sharingan blazing, and put a restraining hand on Jūgo's arm. The black marks retreated from Jūgo's skin like dark shadow being blown away. The huge boy sagged, and it was all Sasuke could do to not fall over as he helped him sit against a tree.

"I'm…sorry Sasuke."

Sasuke only sighed. That had been very, very close. "Jūgo, I need you to do something for me." He urged in a low voice. "Take Neji to the Konoha village and leave him outside the walls. Take Karin with you. She'll be able to sense where he's likely to be found the quickest." This put off Sasuke's plans a bit, but he could still work around it. A Hyūga working for him inside the walls of the village would be a valuable asset.

"Yes, Sasuke." Jūgo said quietly, and stood up. Karin landed on the forest floor and walked towards them, stepping over Suigetsu's body as if she didn't even see it. She handed Sasuke the bag of sandwiches. "Can't we eat before we leave?" She whined.

Sasuke shook his head. "We have to take him now before he loses too much blood."

Karin sighed in annoyance. "Fine." She turned away. Jūgo bent down next to the Hyūga and began to lift him up.

"What are you doing?" Hinata was back on her feet. She approached Jūgo and stood in between him and Neji as if she planned on acting like a human shield. "Where are you taking him? He's hurt. He'll d-die if you m-move him now."

Beneath her shaky wall of defiance, Sasuke could tell she was very close to tears. But he had to wonder just how courageous she was, to stand next to the boy who she had just seen try to kill her without reason, like a monster. But on her face he saw no fear of Jūgo, only defiance and grief for her cousin. He stepped forward. "Just as I promised, I'm letting him go. Jūgo will take him to your village, where he can be given professional medical help."

Hinata bit her lip, as if she was debating with something. "L-Let me just bind his wounds. Or else he'll bleed to death." She didn't wait for an answer. She kneeled down next to her cousin and pulled out a standard roll of bandages from her pouch. Carefully Hinata turned Neji onto his stomach so that she could get to the wound on his back.

Hinata nearly threw up. Seeing her cousin so badly wounded was nightmarish. She began to set the bandages on top of the broken skin, but her hands were shaking so much it was nearly impossible. She even sliced her finger when she was cutting some bandage with her kunai, dropping yet more blood onto Neji's back.

"Here…" Jūgo said, and very gently took the roll of bandages from Hinata's hand, as if he was afraid of touching her. He bound the bandages tightly around Neji's back. She murmured a word of gratitude, but that was all. She knew now what Jūgo's gentleness hid. It had been pure, unadulterated bloodlust she had seen in his eyes when he had attacked her. But at the same time, Hinata had a feeling it had been done completely against his will. That part of Jūgo reminded Hinata of Naruto.

Hinata stood up and watched as Jūgo carefully lifted up Neji. He and Karin quickly disappeared in the direction of the village. Hinata's heart ached to be going with them, to make sure Neji was okay, but she knew she had to stay here with Sasuke, at least for now. _I have to use this situation as an opportunity. _Hinata thought to herself, mostly to make herself forget about Neji so that she wouldn't break down in front of Sasuke. _I have to find out why Sasuke is doing what he's doing._

She turned around to see Sasuke dragging Suigetsu to an upright sitting position against a tree. She reluctantly joined him as Sasuke took Suigetsu's pulse with a worried frown. Hinata examined Suigetsu with her Byakugan. Neji had done a pretty good job at attacking Suigetsu, considering he was so injured he could barely… _Not going to think about it right now!_ Hinata mentally shook her head and continued with her analysis of Suigetsu's chakra pathways. Pretty much his entire chakra system was blocked up. He wouldn't be using chakra anytime soon, and probably would be unconscious for a while. The blood dripping from the corner of his mouth probably meant that Neji's attack had burst some veins. But there was no permanent damage, almost as if Neji had been reluctant to deal the killing blow.

"Is it serious?" Sasuke said, still facing Suigetsu.

Hinata shook her head, remembered that he couldn't see her, and said "N-No. He just needs rest."

Sasuke nodded. "Back to the camp, then. It's going to be a pain carrying that thing. We'll just leave it here until Suigetsu wakes up." He jerked his head to Suigetsu's sword, still lying on the ground and covered in Neji's blood. Hinata turned her head carefully away.

* * *

Sai felt the back of his tongue tingling, as if the curse seal there knew that he was thinking about activating it. It was so frustrating watching everyone scrambling around, trying to find out where Naruto was, when he knew perfectly well where. _But if I tell them I'll be paralyzed, and who knows how long _that _will last._ Sai mused. He wished there was some way of telling them where Naruto was without actually _telling _them.

A while ago Tsunade had banished them from their office, so they had gone to Kakashi's apartment, which was the nearest. Tsunade had said that their worrying was distracting her. She had gone to talk with Danzo. Privately, Sai thought it would be a miracle if that man divulged to Tsunade the time of day.

Kakashi paced up and down his hallway. Sakura sat at the table. She had her head resting on her arms, but she was definitely not asleep because every now and then she would mutter something. Sai sat with his legs crossed on his couch, staring into space.

Everyone was waiting for news of Naruto. So when a loud, hasty knocking came at the door, all three of them leaped simultaneously at the door. Kakashi got there first, and opened the door to Yamato.

"They've found him!" He blurted out.

A collective sigh of relief went through the room. Sakura spoke up. "Is he all right?" She asked anxiously.

Yamato looked grim. "He survived. They took him straight to the critical treatment ward."

Sai saw Kakashi's and Sakura's faces drain of all color. "What did Danzo _do _to him?" Kakashi asked. For Naruto to have to be taken to the critical ward, it had to be a massive injury. The Kyuubi's chakra would have handled it otherwise.

"Danzo?" Yamato looked confused. "What does Danzo have to do with this?"

"He's the bastard who captured Naruto in the first place!" Sakura exclaimed hotly. Sai wished she would keep her voice down. Danzo had ears everywhere.

"Naruto?" Yamato echoed, sounding even more confused. "I'm not talking about Naruto. I'm talking about Hyūga Neji." He paused, eyes flicking to each of their faces. "Danzo captured Naruto? Then he's probably in the catacombs under the village."

* * *

Please review… Gah, sore throat…Not fun.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hinata thought furiously, of anything but Neji. She didn't have that much time. When the village found out that she was still missing, it would only be a matter of time before they found her. _There's still Tonton after all. And the blood that I dropped onto Neji. That should help with the tracking._ Normally, this shouldn't have bothered her. She _wanted_ to be back at home. But she felt it was her duty to find out about Sasuke. She couldn't return to Naruto empty-handed. _If he found out that I had the ideal chance to find out Sasuke's motives and I wasted it…he'd never even think about me again._ Hinata told herself grimly.

But Hinata was only lying to herself if she said she wasn't curious herself as to why Sasuke was trying to destroy Konoha. The boy was completely set on this dark goal; she had the marks around her eye to prove it. She could understand why Sasuke had killed Itachi, to a point. After all, Itachi had slaughtered Sasuke's entire clan. But in her heart, Hinata knew that even if Neji did the same to the entire Hyūga clan, she would never have it in her to hunt Neji down and kill him. Wouldn't that cause even more pain? No, Hinata was definitely not an avenger. Not like Sasuke was.

_But the question is what is he avenging now? What did Konohagakure ever do to him?_

While she was pondering this, Sasuke hauled Suigetsu up on one shoulder and together, they went back to the campsite. Suigetsu's pale white hair glowed in the moonlight, serving as a flag for Hinata through the darkened woods.

When they arrived at the campsite, Sasuke dumped Suigetsu down on a bedroll next to a dying fire. "Go get some firewood." said Sasuke, not looking at her.

Hinata hesitated at his tone. Her lack of movement made Sasuke look up. He stared at her. "What's wrong? The fire is getting cold."

Hinata clenched her fists and felt blood rush up to her face, but she turned around and gathered wood. She missed Sasuke's brief expression of confusion. When she had gathered enough, Hinata began to carefully feed sticks into the fire but Sasuke motioned for her to back away. She did so uncertainly, and watched as he made quick hand signs, then shot a small fireball into the pile of wood. It began to blaze cheerfully.

Hinata could not help feeling that he was showing off.

Sasuke sat down and passed a sandwich to her. It had long since gone cold and slightly soggy but Hinata was not complaining. It had been a long time since breakfast.

"So you've killed Itachi, right?" Hinata asked quietly between mouthfuls, trying to sound nonchalant, as if talking about killing one's brother was a perfectly normal topic in conversation.

It was the wrong thing to say. She could see how his shoulders tensed, and she was forced to look away from his face due to the hostile glare he directed at her.

"Yes. Why?" Sasuke asked shortly.

"J-just wondering," stammered Hinata. She could practically say good-bye to coaxing information out of him now. Sasuke looked like he was ready to attack her. But why? Hadn't killing Itachi been his goal ever since his genin days? Shouldn't he be glad about finally killing his brother and avenging his clan?

Sasuke turned his burning eyes away from Hinata's face, and she sighed in relief. He shrugged out of his Akatsuki cloak, laying it in messy pile next to the fire. Hinata couldn't help herself. "Wasn't Itachi in Akatsuki?" she questioned.

He did not react so violently to this question, but he still sat stiffly, staring into the fire. "Yes, he was."

Hinata sucked on her lower lip nervously. She didn't want to push Sasuke too hard for answers, but she had to try, right? "Uh, s-so I was just wondering…why you joined the organization if you hated Itachi so much."

Sasuke sat with his knees pressed to his chest, staring avidly into the fire. "I don't hate him." He said in a low voice.

Hinata realized her mouth was hanging open and she shut it hastily. Sasuke was making no sense! If there was anything she remembered of Sasuke in his genin days, it was his passionate hate of Itachi. And now, it sounded like he even _regretted _killing his brother. _Something must have happened that made him change his mind. But what?_

Hinata watched Sasuke in silence. Neji had told her a couple things about interpreting one's body language, and right now Sasuke's body language was practically screaming loneliness. But his expression still remained as blank as ever. It filled Hinata with such sadness to see Naruto's best friend suffering like this. "You miss him, don't you?" Hinata asked on impulse, momentarily forgetting that she was talking to Uchiha Sasuke, and not her little sister. She snapped her mouth closed as soon as the question was out of her mouth. Hadn't he already made it clear that Itachi was a touchy subject? _I'd probably be the world's worst interrogator._

Sure enough, Sasuke shot up to his knees and glared at her again over the fire. The heat from the flames was making his face undulate weirdly, but Hinata could tell just how lethal his expression was. "Shut up." He ground out. "Don't talk like you know anything about me, because you _don't_."

"O-okay," said Hinata, leaning back from his sudden vehemence, which was twice as hot as the campfire.

Sasuke sank back to the ground and finished his sandwich with such speed, she was afraid he'd choke. "You can use my bedroll until we get you another one." He jerked his chin to the left. In the darkness Hinata could make out something that might have been a pile of blankets. "I'm going to stay up and wait for Jūgo and Karin."

_My own bedroll_? Hinata wondered bleakly. Just how long was this arrangement supposed to last? Right now, Hinata didn't feel like staying with Sasuke, but to be frank she didn't feel like returning to the village either. She knew that once word got out of what had happened to her, they'd probably send out ninjas to retrieve her right away. _They think I can't handle this. _Hinata frowned. _But I'm not as useless as they think_! She nodded to herself and dragged Sasuke's bedroll closer to the fire. As she settled into the blankets she tried to ignore how they smelt slightly burnt, as if Sasuke had done a Fire Jutsu while still in them and gotten some of the fabric charred. It was just as well that the smell made her want to sneeze, because Hinata was determined to stay awake until Jūgo and Karin came back. She wanted to make sure that Neji had been delivered safely.

Just as her mind was slipping back to the questionable health of her cousin, Sasuke asked, "How long will he be out?"

It took a while for Hinata to grasp what he meant, but when she did her eyes settled on Suigetsu. From the outside he looked fine but Hinata knew better. Inside, his entire chakra pathway system was a mess. "P-Probably tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest." She estimated, searching Sasuke for his reaction. Neji had told her a couple of things about assessing someone's inner thoughts by the way they arranged themselves Sasuke's eyes remained as carefully blank as ever but Hinata caught the way he dipped his head down and clenched his fingers slightly. If she hadn't been taught by Neji and she hadn't been looking carefully, she would never have seen it. But it was there. Sasuke was frustrated and impatient. This delayed his plans. Hinata turned away from him and buried her face deeper into the smoky blankets to hide a satisfied smile.

* * *

Kakashi, Sakura, Sai and Yamato huddled together over Kakashi's tiny kitchen table.

"So basically you know where Naruto is, but you don't know how to get there?" Sakura ground out in a low voice.

Yamato nodded grimly. "When I was in ANBU I heard more about the secret catacombs, and that they were Danzo's hidey-hole."

"I always thought the catacombs were just a legend." Kakashi said.

Yamato smiled humorlessly. "You forget, I have the wood element. A lot of the old trees in this village have roots that sink into the ceilings of the catacombs. So I knew there was something under the village."

"But you don't know where the entrance is to the catacombs?" Sakura asked. Yamato shook his head.

"Yamato, if the roots of the trees go all the way into the catacombs, couldn't you make an entrance by moving the trees?" Kakashi asked.

Yamato leaned back and considered it. After a while, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, I could."

Sakura beamed. "Brilliant! Then we can get in and save Naruto."

Kakashi shook his head. "It's not that easy Sakura. If I know one thing about Danzo, it's that he won't leave an _inch _of that place unguarded. We'll have to be very careful about this." Sakura's smile vanished and she slumped in her chair.

"I just don't get it. Why did Danzo take Naruto in the first place?" She said.

"Probably because he's the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Danzo doesn't want that power falling into Madara's hands. If that happened we would lose the war." Kakashi said gravely.

"But if Naruto's fighting out there, he could _win _the war!" Sakura growled, kneading her head in frustration. She sighed and looked up at the clock. "I had better get to the hospital. Shizune's probably got her hands full with Neji." She got up from the table and walked out.

Kakashi turned to Sai. "Sai, you haven't said a word. You're on Root, aren't you? Can't you tell us how to get in?"

Sai shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the two jounins. "I…I can't." He said, looking down at the table.

When Sai looked up, he saw that Yamato's expression was severe. "Why not?"

Sai cast his eyes away as he tried to come up with what to say. "It…it would be giving information away. I can't do that."

Yamato stood up suddenly, knocking his chair back. He grabbed the front of Sai's shirt. "Don't tell me you're still following Danzo's orders after all this! You're worse than scum! Anyone who does that to their teammates is worse than scum. Isn't that right, Senpai?"

"Tenzou," said Kakashi quietly. "Sit down." After a startled look, Yamato picked up his fallen chair and sat down heavily. Sai watched him dispassionately. "Sai, open your mouth." Kakashi said.

Sai did so, and stuck out his tongue for good measure. It seemed showing the seal did not activate it. But he doubted he could get away with telling Kakashi and Yamato what the seal was _for_. Consequently, it turned out that he didn't have to. Kakashi knew exactly what the seal was for.

"They were very popular in the beginning of the last war. But the jutsu has one flaw. You can't tell anyone any information, even your comrades. It got a lot of good men killed before the Hokage banned it." Kakashi shook his head in distaste. "So I'm guessing you can't tell us anything about Danzo?"

Sai nodded. "I'm sorry." It surprised him how much he meant it. Yamato apologized to him somewhat sheepishly.

"Don't worry. There's a way around the seal. But we're going to have to be very careful." Kakashi said wryly.

* * *

Sakura made it to the hospital just in time to see Shizune nearly collapse from chakra exhaustion. She wasn't used to such in-depth healings. Usually it was Tsunade who dealt with matters like this, but as she was busy dealing with Danzo, it was left up to Shizune.

Sakura sternly ordered a nurse to make sure that Shizune got some rest, then rushed into Neji's room. He was a bit more than halfway healed. But the inadequate healing on the wound on his back was beginning to break open. Neji's face glistened with sweat but he was unconscious. They had probably anesthetized him very early on. Sakura took in the bloody bandages that had been peeled off and laid to the side. What had happened? Had Sasuke found Neji and done this to him?

But now was not the time to think about that. Sakura rolled up her sleeves, yelled sharp orders for a nurse to get clean bandages, and began to heal Neji's back. It took a while, but when Sakura left the room to wash her bloody hands and get a glass of water, Neji was sleeping peacefully, his wound completely closed. When she came back to Neji's room to check up on him, she was surprised to meet Kiba, Akamaru and Shino.

"What are you two, er three—sorry Akamaru—doing here? How'd you get in?" Sakura asked, and saw Kiba's eyes trail guiltily to the open window. They had snuck in. Sakura sighed. "He won't wake up for a while. It's useless to get any information of Hinata out of him now." Sakura said. Her guess was right. Kiba flushed and looked away. They really had been trying to interrogate a hospital patient in the critical ward. Sakura might have expected it from Kiba, but not Shino. She sighed. "When he wakes up, I'm sure he'll tell you everything he knows."

"You don't get it," snarled Kiba. "Neji, prince of the Hyūga clan, their prodigy boy, practically ANBU level skills. And look at him. He was nearly killed. And you expect me to just lie around and wait while Hinata could be…" Kiba's voice trailed off and he swallowed visibly. Akamaru came closer to lick his hand reassuringly.

Shino spoke up. "We know that Hinata is being held by Uchiha Sasuke in the woods near the small farming town to the east. How do I know this? Before Hyūga Neji was discovered, Tonton the pig arrived bearing a note written by the hand of none other than Neji."

Sakura raised an eyebrow quizzically. She wondered how Shino and Kiba had heard about the note, but she decided she really didn't want to know. "If you already knew where Hinata was then why are you in Neji's room?"

Kiba found his voice again. "We needed to know what Sasuke needed with Hinata. We also were looking for Tsunade. So we decided to kill two ninja with one kunai and come in through this handy open window." He grinned wolfishly but it did not change the expression in his worried eyes. "But we couldn't find Tsunade."

Sakura scowled. "You won't find her here. What do you need with her?"

"We wanted her to give us a mission to find Hinata." Kiba said.

Sakura's mouth fell open. "Don't tell me you were planning on going after Sasuke by _yourself_? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Sakura said, mostly to Shino because she was surprised he was being so reckless. Even as she was speaking, Sakura saw Kiba glance back at Shino. Shino nodded. Sakura took a step back uncertainly. "What—"

She didn't get a chance to say anything else. Shino outstretched his hands and a swarm of black bugs flew out of his sleeves and straight at her, surrounding her in a black cloud. Sakura fought the instinct to shriek, because she knew opening her mouth now would only earn her a mouthful of bugs.

As suddenly as they came, the bugs dispersed. Sakura opened her eyes to see them buzzing out of the window and into the night. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were gone as well. Sakura breathed heavily, then turned around and punched a hand straight through the solid wood of Neji's door. Then, ignoring the terrified looks of the surrounding nurses, she stormed out of the hospital and headed back to Kakashi's apartment. She didn't think Shino and Kiba would leave until morning; after all tracking during the nighttime was tricky even with Kiba's strong nose. But that didn't reassure her at all. She knew there was no way of finding Kiba or Shino before morning, if they didn't want to be found.

But that wasn't what irked her. She was mad because Kiba and Shino were going after Sasuke. Without her. If Naruto had not been locked up in God-knows-where, she knew she would have begged to come with them.

* * *

Sasuke tried not to grimace. He had planned on setting out to meet Kabuto the next morning, but they couldn't travel if Suigetsu was unconscious. Jūgo might have been able to carry Suigetsu, but that left the enormous sword. Sasuke sighed.

He glanced at Hinata. The girl was pretending to be asleep but her breathing wasn't deep enough to fool him. She had to go to sleep soon, or else he wouldn't be able to do what he needed to do. Sasuke rose slowly from the fire and saw Hinata twitch tellingly. He took a step towards her, and she abandoned the pretense of sleep to turn around and stare at him in suspicion.

Before she could roll away from him, Sasuke grabbed her shoulder firmly. He activated his Sharingan. He saw a horrified expression crash over her face, only to be replaced with sleepiness. Her eyes were going glassy and blank.

Hinata squirmed, and her eyes began to regain some alertness. Sasuke frowned and he noticed that she had activated her Byakugan. She should have been asleep by now but she was fighting him. He could feel her chakra pressed out against him like a defensive wall. She was trying to look away from his eyes so with his free hand he took her chin and fixed his eyes to hers.

"Go to sleep." said Sasuke compellingly, leaning closer. He used his chakra, weaving an additional genjutsu over the power of the Sharingan. Hinata's eyes rolled back in her head, and with a small whimper she slumped in her blankets and fell asleep. With two fingers, Sasuke closed her eyelids and sat down on the ground with a sigh of relief. _She was fighting the Sharingan with the sheer force of will? _Sasuke thought with disbelief. Never had it taken that much effort to make someone go to sleep when he was that close to them. Once Sasuke had even felled a man who had been charging at him with a sword. Yet this girl could put up more of a fight? _Maybe the Byakugan negates the effects of the Sharingan? _Sasuke wondered. He had never heard of this before. Surely someone would have told him about it? But then again, the Uchiha and the Hyūga had been allies for generations. It had probably been a very long time since a skilled Sharingan user met a Hyūga in combat. The knowledge could have been lost or forgotten.

Sasuke put the matter out of his mind. He had to send the message to Konoha before Jūgo and Karin returned. Sasuke bit his thumb until he could taste blood, and then made the hand signs for summoning. A large black snake promptly exploded into existence. The noise was not enough to stir Hinata; her Sharingan-induced sleep was too deep. The snake coiled on the ground, green eyes shining up at him. Sasuke held out a hand and the snake slithered up his arm and around his neck. His head rested on Sasuke's collarbone.

"You've been summoning me a lot today, Sasuke." hissed the snake into Sasuke's ear. "I only just finished telling Kabuto that you captured a Hyūga. He was impressed at your speed."

"What did he say?" asked Sasuke.

"He wants you to meet him at the port town near the Northern Konoha outpost as soon as possible."

"That might be a while. One of my teammates has been injured."

"So I saw. Handling two Hyūgas at once is more than you bargained for, eh Sasuke?" The snake gave a dry laugh.

"Had I had been there, it wouldn't have happened." Sasuke clenched his jaw.

"If you say so."

Sasuke ignored the snake's mocking tone. He didn't have much time. "I need you to take a message to the Leaf Village."

"Oh?" The snake asked coolly.

Sasuke whispered the message to the snake. When he was done, he made him repeat the message back to him to make sure he'd gotten everything. "Remember, to the hospital." he reminded the snake, then watched it slither away into the darkness.

Sasuke sat in the crushing silence for a few moments, contemplating. So Kabuto would come to meet him? That was good news at least. Sasuke would not have to worry about Madara and Kabuto breathing down his neck at the same time.

Hinata stirred in her sleep, mumbling incoherently. He leaned closer out of curiosity. "Naruto…" she sighed. Sasuke drew back in disgust. He watched her, but she did not move again. _She shouldn't be moving at all_, he thought. _The sleep of the Sharingan is supposed to be so strong that it banishes all dreams._

So the girl thought about Naruto even in her sleep. Sasuke wondered absentmindedly if Naruto even knew her name. She didn't seem like the type to catch Naruto's eye.

Any other wonderings were cut short by the arrival of Karin and Jūgo. Karin came into the light of the fire loudly, beating the ground forcefully with the soles of her feet and sitting down heavily on the ground. She was muttering darkly to herself. Jūgo came in much more quietly. He skirted the edge of the shadows and stopped to stand behind Sasuke, as if putting a barrier between himself and Karin.

As the answer was not forthcoming, Sasuke was forced to ask what had happened.

Karin shot a dirty look at Jūgo before answering. "When we were heading there I sensed the chakra of an animal summons, a pig. Jūgo wouldn't let me kill it. It was heading straight towards the Leaf Village. It was carrying a message, I'm sure of it. Now the entire village probably knows where we are."

Rage made the edges of Sasuke's vision go white for one scary moment, but he forced the emotion back and stood up. "Then we have no choice. We're leaving at dawn. And if Suigetsu isn't up by then we're leaving him and his stupid sword behind."

Sasuke had never seen Karin look happier.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review, or I might have to do something drastic like kill off Sasuke.

…Just kidding! Don't kill me.


	7. Chapter 7

Wow, forty reviews! Thank you!

* * *

Chapter 7

For the hundredth time that afternoon, Tsunade resisted the urge to punch the ground and level the entire goddamn building to the ground.

She had been waiting outside the door for an entire hour now, waiting for Danzo to agree to see her. She had a very bad feeling that Danzo was using this time to gather the entire council together, so that they could collectively grill her. They were, all of them, conservative pricks.

Tsunade looked anxiously over her shoulder, at the ANBU soldiers sent to "protect" her. Tsunade had no doubt that they were there to make her stay put. _I wish I had some way of knowing what was going on outside._ _I wish I had summoned Katsuyu before I came in, so that she could keep an eye around. But if I try to make a summons now, they'll probably stop me._ Tsunade was just about to sigh heavily when the door opened. A pockmarked chunin in his fledgling years opened the door, caught sight of Tsunade's expression, and squeaked audibly.

"Th-th-th-they're calling for you!" He stammered, and dodged out of the way as Tsunade stormed into the room and slammed the door behind her with a satisfying boom that probably knocked off some of the plaster from the wall.

Just as she expected, Danzo had gathered the entire council. They sat on floor cushions in a semi-circle, Danzo in the middle of them. Tsunade sat down on the only available cushion, placed in the middle of the semi-circle. If the arrangement was supposed to bother her, it did not. She sat down calmly. "Two spoons of sugar please." She said to the chunin, who had come back in holding a steaming pot of tea.

After the tea had been poured, Tsunade took one polite sip from her tea, assessed that it did not have poison, then set the cup down and laced her fingers together. "So, Danzo, where have you been keeping Naruto?" She kept her tone conversational.

Danzo's wizened features pulled into an ugly smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The council member on the right of Danzo spoke up. He had long greasy black hair that reminded her uncomfortably of Orochimaru's. However, instead of being snake-like, this man's appearance reminded her more of a rat. "Do you mean to say you've _misplaced _the Kyuubi, Tsunade?" The rest of the council began to chuckle. She suspected that Danzo had let them in on his plan to capture Naruto.

"This is the first time I am hearing about it." Danzo said smugly. "Tsunade?"

Tsunade gritted her teeth. "Yes. Naruto was captured earlier today."

Danzo smiled condescendingly. "And you think _I _have something to do with it?"

After that, Tsunade lost more and more of her patience trying to make the council see that Danzo had captured Naruto. It was useless. One third of the council knew what Danzo had done, and they agreed with him. The other third also knew what Danzo had done and they didn't really care. The other third was just too afraid to do anything about it, whether they knew about it or not.

In the end, Tsunade said some scathing remarks to Danzo, who only smiled, and stormed out of the building. _What a complete waste of my time… _When Tsunade stepped out of the doors, she took some quick gulps of the cool night air. "I'm getting too old for this job." And she shuffled away to get some sleep before starting the entire business over in the morning.

* * *

Hinata opened her eyes and groaned. Her entire body was so stiff. She had never slept so soundly. She got up carefully, trying to clear her head. She hadn't remembered falling asleep. Wasn't she going to try and stay up until Karin and Jūgo returned? Had she really let herself drift off into sleep like a child?

And then Hinata remembered what Sasuke had done to her. He had used his Sharingan on her. She had remembered an unnatural exhaustion steal over her. But then the red of the Sharingan triggered something in her eyes, and without knowing, she had activated her Byakugan. With it, she had seen the most intricate network of chakra vessels ever. As she observed the countless vessels, all flowing and pulsing with chakra, she realized that her limbs were becoming less leaden, and she felt less like laying her head down and sleeping. Was her Byakugan letting her see _through _whatever spell Sasuke was laying on her with his Sharingan?

But before Hinata could break the paralysis altogether, Sasuke had set a genjutsu on her. She had no time to react; it was that powerful. She didn't remember anything after that.

Realizing that someone was watching her, Hinata looked up and saw Jūgo sitting on a log in front of the fire. The log hadn't been there before. Jūgo must have put it there sometime in the night. Hinata wondered how he could have possibly done it without waking anyone up. But she supposed the boy's inhuman strength and massive chakra would make it easy to pick up a log, carry it silently to the camp, and set it down gently. She knew that it should have frightened her, but she could not help feeling a certain affinity with Jūgo. _You aren't here to make friends Hinata_, she told herself grimly. Still, when Jūgo quietly asked her if she would like to eat something, she nodded and came to sit next to him.

He handed her a paper cup filled with steaming, thick soup. She sipped it gratefully. Even though it was the middle of summer, mornings were still chilly. It was still a bit before the sun rose, and in the faint light and the morning mist, Hinata couldn't make out anything except the fire and Jūgo.

She was halfway done with her soup, when Jūgo said to her, "I hope that Suigetsu wakes up soon."

Hinata stared at him in surprise. He met her eyes steadily, and Hinata was astonished at the amount of expression held in those eyes. She could see that he was clearly genuine about his feelings. She had not expected that. She had imagined that such a dysfunctional team like this, led by Sasuke, wouldn't have the same feeling of camaraderie that she experienced in her teams at Konoha. And yet Jūgo obviously felt a connection with his teammates. Whether Hinata could say the same about the other members of Team Taka was a different question.

"Why?" Hinata asked, taking a gulp of the soup.

"Sasuke plans on leaving without him if he doesn't," Jūgo said.

Hinata blinked. What a horrible thing to do! Obviously Sasuke felt none of the bonds that Jūgo felt with his teammates. Hinata quickly swallowed all the soup in her mouth, and ended up burning her throat. Through streaming eyes she asked, "Why?"

Jūgo seemed taken aback by her reaction. "Y-you don't have to _cry _about it," he said. But what was more interesting was that he didn't look at her in the face when he said this. In fact, he was deliberately staring to the left of her nose, and he was kept twisting the fabric of his cloak over and over around his fingers. _He isn't going to tell me why_, Hinata realized, and she did her best not to press for information even though she was dying to know why Sasuke wanted to move ahead so quickly.

"I'm not crying!" she protested weakly, and after blowing carefully into her cup, she downed the rest of the soup. Immediately, Hinata wished she hadn't. The cup of soup had given her something to do, something to fill the awkward silence. _I wish I was better at conversation_, Hinata though adamantly to herself.

Jūgo didn't seem to notice it. He was leaning back on the log, wrapped tightly in his cloak, staring up at the sky. Watching him, Hinata felt much calmer. When birdsong began to sound through the forest, a big lazy smile spread over his face.

The sun was rising. As its light began to penetrate the woods, Hinata saw Sasuke rise from a bedroll (it must have been Jūgo's since Hinata had been sleeping in his) and make his way towards them. Jūgo immediately got up to let Sasuke sit down, and handed him a cup of soup.

"Suigetsu still hasn't gotten up yet," Sasuke said, drinking his soup. "Jūgo, wake up Karin. We'll leave after everyone finishes eating." Jūgo nodded and disappeared into the mist to wake up Karin. Hinata was left along with Sasuke.

Hinata bit her lip. _Should I tell him_? Because there _was _a way to wake Suigetsu up from his stupor. The Hyūga used it on each other during training sessions when too many chakra nodes were blocked. It involved forcibly pushing chakra into the person's chakra network, to unblock the chakra nodes. The experience was akin to having volts of electricity shot into you. Hinata knew this well; her father had often had to do this to her when they were training. Sometimes she thought he put in more chakra than was necessary, with more force than was necessary, just to give her more pain.

But did she really want to wake up Suigetsu? He was just one more enemy, no matter what Jūgo thought of him. _What would Naruto do? _Hinata smiled immediately. Naruto would not hesitate. He would wake up Suigetsu. Even in his darkest enemies, Naruto seemed to find bits of kindness. But he could afford to be so idealistic. If Hinata made the mistake of trusting an enemy, she could be killed.

_I can't do that_, Hinata thought and for the first time in her life, she purposefully ignored what Naruto would have done. This was different.

"Where are we going?" Hinata asked Sasuke timidly.

"The port city of Saishe," Sasuke replied.

_Saishe_. Hinata had only been there once, on a mission. Her team had had to stay there for a month, sorting out a gang of renegades that had been causing trouble there. So luckily, she knew the town well, and not just the streets. She knew the inner workings of the city, which would be much more useful. The city was one of the biggest in Konoha, and since it was right next to a large natural harbor, it also housed the biggest black market and smuggling business. It was a place where crime and money sat side by side, like friends. Whatever Sasuke needed to do there, Hinata was sure was not legal. So he would probably not tell her if she asked. Hinata wondered if it had anything to do with "combining the powers of the Byakugan and the Sharingan."

Hinata glanced at Sasuke. His eyes were slate gray once more. She felt disappointed. After what had happened last night, Hinata was aching for another look at the Sharingan. She had never seen such a tightly woven web of chakra pathways. If she could find a way to block that chakra, it would be immensely helpful. Sasuke wouldn't be able to use the Sharingan anymore.

Jūgo rejoined them at the fire, and he was followed by a very disgruntled looking Karin. The redheaded kunoichi was obviously not a morning person. However when she caught sight of Suigetsu, who still lay asleep next to the fire, her expression brightened up a bit. She seemed to take pleasure in the fact that they were leaving her teammate behind. Hinata shook her head. She supposed Jūgo was the only one on this team that actually cared about his teammates. She didn't know about Suigetsu, but she was inclined to believe that the violent, shark-like boy was just the same.

Karin and Sasuke finished their soup in silence. When Sasuke finished he crushed his cup and tossed it into the fire. "Jūgo, get Suigetsu's sword and put it next to him." Jūgo nodded and ran off to do Sasuke's bidding. In the meantime Sasuke took out a scrap of paper, wrote something down on it, and began to tie the note around Suigetsu's neck with a bit of wire.

The note said "Saishe". Sasuke was telling Suigetsu where they were going.

Hinata was not the only one to notice this. Beside her, Karin groaned. "Sasuke, why don't you just leave Suigetsu for _good_? You don't _need _him."

Sasuke shook his head. "We do need him, Karin. Now come on. I'd like to be out of here by the time the sun rises. If Konoha knows we're here, we can't afford to lie around and wait."

They got the camp cleaned up quickly, until only Suigetsu was left. The boy was still asleep, lying in a tangled heap of blankets. Jūgo had put his sword next to him. Karin masked Suigetsu's chakra, and Sasuke laid a genjutsu around the perimeter to make sure that no one would be able to find Suigetsu before he woke up.

All through these preparations Hinata wondered if she was doing the right thing by following Sasuke. _Am I doing this because I want to gather helpful information about Sasuke, or am I doing this just to prove that I can_? Deep down, Hinata knew what the answer was. She pushed the thought aside. It wasn't like Sasuke would let her just run back to the village anyway. Confident in this belief, Hinata followed Team Taka as they made their way to Saishe.

* * *

Bright morning light streamed into the hospital room, stirring the patient that slept inside. Neji raised a hand to protect his eyes, and winced. The movement had pulled sharply on his back muscles, which felt like they were burning. He slowly laid his hand back down and breathed heavily. He was back at Konoha, in the hospital. He had failed to protect Hinata.

Before he could continue to wallow in self-pity, the door to his room opened. Neji noticed that a nondescript painting of an apple was hanging on the door, a strange place to hang a painting. He switched his attention to the nurse who had walked in. Neji recognized her. She was quite old, probably in her late fifties, and he had seen her working in the hospital many times. Something looked very different about her. Perhaps it was the hunched way she was carrying herself, or the blank expression in her face.

She came to a stop at the foot of his bed and her face pulled into a smile that seemed too wide for her face. Neji's eyebrow twitched. She came closer and bent down as if to put a hand on his forehead, but instead her hand covered his mouth. Neji thrashed under her surprisingly strong hold. He could practically feel his back wound opening up again.

With a quick, blurring movement the nurse stabbed a syringe into Neji's neck. Once she did that, she crumpled to the floor and began to snore softly. Neji's eyes widened. He could feel his limbs growing heavy. He couldn't move, could not even turn his head. But his chakra pathways were unharmed by the poison. Even though he didn't have that much chakra after all the fighting he had done the day before, Neji still managed to activate his Byakugan. With it, he could see that the nurse's chakra was running in a very confused pattern. She was under a genjutsu.

There was something else in the room. Neji could not lift his head, but with his genjutsu he saw a medium sized black snake, an animal summons. It had been hiding inside the long medic robes of the nurse. _Uchiha Sasuke_, Neji thought angrily. The snake slithered up onto Neji's bed and onto his chest, stopping so close that Neji could see its face perfectly without having to turn his head. Neji glared up at its dark green eyes, but that was all he could do. The poison had even made opening his mouth impossible.

The snake chuckled, dry and raspy. "I don't have much time, so let's get this over with," he hissed. "Uchiha Sasuke has sent me to tell you that he wishes to commission you as a spy. If you refuse your cousin Hyūga Hinata will be brutalized. Interested?"

Neji tried to convey as much venom as possible in his glare but it only seemed to amuse the snake further.

"I'll take that as a yes. Now, this is what Sasuke wants you to investigate."

* * *

Later, the nurse would wake up to find herself on the floor, stand up uncertainly, tell herself that she really needed to start eating a healthier breakfast, notice that the patient was in a very, very deep sleep, then shuffle out of the room to steal an omelet from the kitchen downstairs.

* * *

Please review! It would be like your Christmas present to me. I noticed that no one seemed really concerned that Sasuke was leaving Suigetsu behind. Is it because you don't really care for him, or is it because you were too outraged to review and tell me? Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. I hope I'll have a lot of time over the holidays to update again soon, but we'll see how it goes.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Obstinate as ever, Sasuke made them take the short way to Saishe. Normally travelers took the easier main road, one that hugged the coastline, offering breathtaking views and nice, level ground. Instead, Sasuke was making them cut straight through the forest. The trees were old, and grew close together. Forests like these were rare in the Fire Country. Shinobi battles were constantly sculpting the landscape; a single S-rank jutsu could wipe out acres of forest in seconds. You usually only saw forests like these in Ame, where it rained constantly.

Free space was constricted by the interweaving web of branches, and so it was an awkward walk, ducking under overhanging vines and low branches, climbing over mossy roots. At least the leafy canopy blocked most of the day's harsh sunlight, so it was cool and dark.

Hinata knew why Sasuke was making them suffer through this. By taking this route, not only was he getting them to their destination quicker, he was also making sure that any tracker that came after them—_her—_would have a hard time finding their scent through the thick forest.

_I bet Akamaru would still be able to track down the scent._ Hinata smiled.

The tip of her foot caught a bump in a decaying log and she stumbled forward, colliding heavily with Karin.

"Get off of me!" The volatile kunoichi shrieked, and pushed Hinata forcefully away, wheeling her right towards Sasuke. Desperately trying not to smash into the Uchiha, Hinata twisted on her heel, spinning around as if about to go into her fighting stance. The maneuver worked. Her back thumped solidly into the trunk of a tree.

Karin tossed her hair. "Honestly, can't you _watch _where you're going?" Hinata's cheeks burned. She looked down.

"Karin," said Sasuke, his stern voice a warning. Karin huffed and leveled a glare at Hinata. Hinata clenched her teeth and forced her chin up, meeting Sasuke's gaze with quiet determination to show that she could _not _be pushed around. When she did she saw that his hands were outstretched, as if he had been ready to catch her as she fell. He seemed just as surprised at his hands as she was. His fingers twitched and his arms fell mechanically to his sides.

"We have to keep moving," Sasuke said, and turned away quickly. Hinata was puzzled at the half-gesture. Honestly, she would have expected Sasuke to slide away from her and just let her fall on her face. The more she knew this boy, the less she understood him.

_But I'm supposed to be understanding him! Come on, Hinata_, she urged herself onwards. Speeding up her pace a bit, she caught up with Sasuke. She took a deep breath. "Wh-What are we looking for in Saishe?" She tried to keep her voice nonchalant, but it came out sounding strained and tense. Deceit had never been her strong point.

"Yakushi Kabuto," Sasuke answered shortly.

Hinata nearly choked. Yakushi Kabuto? Former crony of Orochimaru. An evil medical genius. Able to completely infiltrate the Leaf Village's ranks during the chunin exams and then get out completely unscathed. And currently allied to Uchiha Madara himself. What had she gotten herself into?

The closest encounter Hinata had had with Kabuto had been during the chunin exams, when she had passed out while watching Naruto's match with Neji. She had remembered her heart seizing up and seeing Kiba's startled face before she convulsed and began coughing up blood. She wasn't even supposed to have been able to attend the fights. The medics at the hospital had told her to rest at home. But she had come anyway. She had to see Naruto confront her cousin.

Kabuto had come then, although she had not known it was him. He had healed her, probably saving her life. She had not remembered anything after that. Kabuto had made sure that she, Kiba and Akamaru would not wake up until hours later, when all the chaos had quieted down. And it would be much later than that that Hinata would learn that Kabuto had infiltrated the ANBU, and had been the one to heal her.

To this day she did not know why he had done it. He could have easily killed all three of them silently, stopping their hearts with his deadly chakra.

To meet this man again, to talk to him, knowing that he was her complete enemy but at the same time had saved her from dying when he could have killed her, it filled her with dread. Did he even remember her? But of course, there was another reason to be afraid of Kabuto.

"Will he be the one to give you my Byakugan's powers?" Hinata asked in a flat voice, and even though her eyes were downcast, she still saw him shoot her an odd look, as if he was surprised. Did he think she wouldn't be able to figure out something as obvious as that?

"Wh-what?" She asked self-consciously.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, and Hinata felt she wasn't going to get a better response out of him than that. He was just like Neji in that sense, never opening his mouth to speak unless it was absolutely necessary. Around her, Neji was slightly more verbose, but even then, he was more likely to lapse into silence than continue a conversation.

Telling herself it was no different than pressing her cousin for answers, Hinata forced herself to speak up again. It all came out in one breath, rapid and clumsy.

"I mean, can something like that even be done? Are you sure K-Kabuto knows what he's doing? What if he's p-planning something? Wasn't he Orochimaru's right hand man? Wasn't he angry when you k-k-killed him?" Hinata clamped her mouth shut. She was rambling like an idiot, and there was a growing touch of hysteria to her voice.

Sasuke sighed, as if bothered by the questions of a small child, and Hinata felt her face growing hot.

"If he tries anything, I'll stop him," Sasuke said simply, and Hinata could not hear a trace of arrogance in that statement, only self-assured confidence. She envied that he could feel so sure of himself, but at the same time she was worried. What if Kabuto had something up his sleeve? He would have Sasuke's Sharingan _and _her Byakugan at her disposal. She couldn't let that happen.

But how? Sasuke would not let her escape. She was not strong enough to fight her way past him. Unless…

Hinata bit her lip and slowed her walk. She had a theory, but she needed to confirm it. Earlier, she had seen a fleeting look into Sasuke's Sharingan eyes with her Byakugan, and had seen a vastly intricate web of chakra vessels all in that tiny space. What intrigued her was the possibility that there might be a way to cut off all the chakra. For that to happen, there would have to be a chakra node located directly in the center of Sasuke's eyes.

It was possible. After all, she had not been able to see very deeply into Sasuke's Sharingan. If there was a chakra node, all it would take would be a gentle fist to his eyes, and Sasuke would not be able to use his Sharingan anymore, at least, not until his chakra vessels unblocked themselves.

And if Sasuke could not use his Sharingan, she might, _might_, have a chance at getting away from him. But when should she do this? She still felt like she hadn't gotten enough information out of Sasuke. She wondered if it was even possible to make him talk. After all, she was running out of time. Once they reached Saishe and met Kabuto, he would have them in his hands. Hinata wondered if Madara would be there too.

As her insides began coiling with icy dread, Hinata heard Karin talking loudly up ahead, piercing the forest's muffled silence.

"Honestly, she's slowing us down too much Sasuke. I'm surprised even Konoha let that marshmallow become a kunoichi. Isn't she a clan heiress? Bet she was totally babied by her daddy." Karin snorted. Sasuke said nothing. His eyes seemed distant, and it was apparent he was not listening to a word Karin said.

Frustrated, Karin turned her attention to Hinata. "What are _you_ looking at?"

Hinata realized she had been clenching her teeth. She forced her face to remain smooth. "I was never babied," she said, in a voice that shook only a little. "My father only ever compared me to my sister. And if I couldn't match her…" Hinata's voice trailed off into silence. "I was so happy the day he gave up on me and just focused on her." She smiled bitterly.

She looked up through her bangs at Karin and Sasuke. Karin still looked scornful. But strangely, the distant look had vanished from Sasuke's face. Instead he looked thoughtful. Jūgo stepped up.

"It's going to be noon soon," he said quietly to Sasuke. They kept moving.

* * *

As soon as Neji was healed enough to fully convince the medics at the hospital to let him leave the office, he attended the jounin meeting at Tsunade's office. Everything was chaos, and everyone was barely keeping it together. Naruto was missing, somewhere in Danzo's clutches. Hinata had been captured. Shino and Kiba had broken Konoha law by going after her. And now he was considering betraying his village and sending information to one of its enemies, Uchiha Sasuke.

In the concealing shade of a tree, Neji allowed his cold demeanor to slip as he roughly dragged his hands over his face. How had everything turned so wrong so quickly?

_I don't have time. I need to give my answer to the snake by midnight. _Neji wondered if he would ever see his cousin again if he refused. _Think. There has to be a way out of this. _

It came to him. It was genius. Neji felt like laughing. His expression certainly must have been interesting to see, because some children on their way home from the Academy stopped and stared before being pulled away by their parents.

_I can give him information…about Danzo. If Sasuke wants to destroy Konoha's leaders, well, he can start with him. _


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hinata stirred as light from the gap between the curtains struck her face. She wanted to roll over, stuff her face into the pillow, and sleep until her father ordered her to come for breakfast. It was no use. She was awake. She sat up slowly, and nudged Hanabi's shoulder with her toes.

Hanabi cursed and began to snore lightly once more. Hinata opened her eyes fully. That was not Hanabi. Her sister would never risk the disapproval of their father by being caught swearing. And anyway, it had been many years since Hanabi had slept in the same bed as her.

This was not her room either. No, this was a hotel room. She had come with Sasuke's team, as their hostage, Hinata remembered. They were in Saishe. The city was packed, the hotels bursting, because of the festival. Even thought it was supposed to be a celebration of the harvest, and the majority of Saishe's residents had never stepped foot on a working farm, the city still put out lanterns and stalls and entertainment. They had been hard-pressed to find a hotel room, and by the time they had finally found one in a rather shady district of the town, sleep had been the only thing on their minds. Hinata didn't think she would have ended up sharing her bed otherwise. Now, the morning after, Hinata wasn't feeling as compliant.

She made her way to the window, and lifted up a corner of the moth-eaten curtain so that a ray of bright sunlight shone directly onto Karin's face. Karin tried to roll over, but she ended up falling out of the bed and landing with a loud thump that made Hinata wince in almost-sympathy. Almost. She realized she had never disliked anyone as much as Karin. She hardly knew her, and yet she couldn't stand her. The comments that the kunoichi had made about her yesterday still stung.

As said kunoichi struggled to free herself from the tangle of her bed sheets, Hinata turned her attention back to the window. From here it was impossible to see the city's center, where the festivities were being held. But even in these poorer districts, people seemed happier and more carefree. Hinata felt a longing nostalgic feeling settle over her. In past years, Konohagakure had also taken part in the festival. But now that the village was gearing up for war, that luxury had been postponed.

Two laughing children ran underneath with colorful balloons, their parents trailing contentedly behind, hands locked, leaning on each other. Hinata wished she could escape through this window, and run away as well, but she was trapped. Last night, practically as soon as they had stepped through the city's walls, Sasuke had steered them to a freelance ninja supply store, and bought a freshly made chakra sensor seal. There was a black kanji character branded on the underside of Hinata's wrist now, and it wouldn't go away until Sasuke himself erased it with his own chakra. If Hinata strayed too far from Sasuke, he would know, and it would lead him straight to her.

"You!" Karin shrieked at her and stabbed an accusing finger into Hinata's face. "You did that on purpose," she spat, looking positively demented.

Inside, Hinata quailed from the dangerous look in the other girl's eyes, but she cultivated her expression to be as blank as possible. If anything, this infuriated Karin even more. Luckily, she was spared by a heavy knock on the door. Karin's expression did a one-eighty. She quickly smoothed down her tousled bed-hair, straightened her glasses, beat uselessly at the creases in her travel clothes, and practically flew to open the door.

It was Jūgo. Hinata resisted laughing aloud as she saw Karin's shoulders droop slightly. Jūgo looked a little bemused at Karin's downcast expression so early in the morning. "Er… Sasuke wants you and me to search the city for Kabuto," he said, hesitantly.

Karin nodded. "What about _her_?" She jerked her head backwards to indicate Hinata. Jūgo's gaze shifted back to Hinata. He seemed to smile apologetically, and then he addressed her directly, over the top of Karin's head. "Sasuke wants you to meet him on the hotel roof."

"Come _on_," Karin said, and pushed Jūgo out of the doorway. They were gone.

Hinata also walked out into the hallway of the hotel, shutting the door behind her. She climbed the stairs to the hotel roof, wondering what Sasuke had in store for her. She reached the top of the stairwell. The door leading to the rooftop was ajar and as she came closer she heard Sasuke talking with someone. She stopped and activated her Byakugan. It was the snake spy! She listened intently.

"…back later, Jatai," Sasuke was saying. "The Hyūga girl is supposed to meet me up here soon."

"I'll make it quick, Uchiha. I've received some interesting information… about Danzo."

There was a brief pause. "Go on."

"Our informant tells us that Danzo is practically a Hokage these days. He's even taken custody of the Uzumaki boy and Tsunade is powerless to stop him. If you want to avenge Itachi, you should act before Danzo assembles his own army."

"Hn. Do you have any idea where Kabuto is?"

"None, I'm afraid. I could go look for him, if you wish it."

"I'd rather you get more information on Danzou. Make sure the Hyūga is still…_enthusiastic _about playing our informant. I'm going to make Konoha regret giving Itachi that mission…" Sasuke's voice trailed off.

Hinata clapped a hand over her mouth. She couldn't help it. She had gasped aloud when she heard that, on top of everything, _Neji _was spying for Sasuke. And Naruto… Poor Naruto had been captured by Danzou! Hinata barely had time to finish that thought when Sasuke's form appeared in the doorway, casting a long shadow of her. She took a step backwards. Her heel met open air as she neared the top of the stairs, and Hinata teetered uncertainly.

Sasuke bridged the distance between them. Bright sunlight was shining behind him, shadowing his face. Hinata couldn't see his expression, only the bright red of his Sharingan. The black snake, Jatai, was coiled around his neck. He flicked his tongue out, once, twice, then vanished in a small cloud of white smoke, leaving Hinata and Sasuke alone.

"How much did you hear?" Sasuke asked, his voice cold.

Hinata quivered and hung her head. "Neji… Neji's spying for you?" Hinata was shocked. If, before this, someone had told her that Neji would betray Konoha, she would have thought they were crazy.

"He's doing it for you. His dear little cousin." Sasuke's voice was heavy with irony. And something else harder to identify: sadness…? Hinata wished she could see his face.

"Is…is that what this is about?" Hinata said quietly. "Are you….upset about I-Itachi's death?"

Sasuke made a noise in the back of his throat like a low snarl, and he moved forward again. Hinata's heel slipped on the edge of the top stairs. She began to fall.

Sasuke grabbed her wrist, pulled her to him, held her there.

A sudden, unexpected gust of wind blew through the stairwell and the door leading to the rooftop slammed shut, leaving them in darkness.

"Konoha deserves to burn for what they did to him." Sasuke's voice was strained with barely hidden rage.

Hinata tried to push him away uselessly. "Wh-what do you mean what _they _did? What about you? You _killed _him. He…he sl-slaughtered your family. Why are you destroying Konoha in the name of his revenge?" Hinata's voice was shaking uncontrollably now.

He released her wrist and backed away. "You wouldn't understand," Sasuke said, and in his eyes Hinata once again saw the intense network of chakra vessels. She searched deeper into the red pools of his eyes, noticing absentmindedly that they had widened in surprise.

_There! _Hinata had found it. Twin chakra nodes, buried in the pupils of Sasuke's eyes. If she applied her Gentle First technique there, would it really deactivate Sasuke's Sharingan?

Without thinking, Hinata drew chakra to her fingertips, and with the unerring agility and accuracy of a Hyūga warrior, darted out and brushed her fingertips lightly over Sasuke's eyes, which had shut reflexively.

When Sasuke opened his eyes again, all traces of the Sharingan had disappeared.

* * *

Kiba's eyes widened, and he signaled to Shino, just as Akamaru barked. A moving target, with Hinata's scent on it, was drawing closer. Kiba, Shino and Akamaru stopped their flight through the trees, and stood still on the branches in wait.

"It looks like it might be one of Sasuke's comrades," Kiba said to Shino. Shino nodded. He had already begun to send out his bugs to find out information.

"He's water-oriented. Carrying a large sword. Seems de-hydrated and fatigued." Shino reported in a clipped tone, seconds later. Whoever it was, wasn't far. Kiba sniffed the air, but all he could catch was the scent of saltwater, even though they were very far from the sea.

"Do we have a plan on this or are we just going to wing it? I'm fine either way," Kiba grinned toothily and cracked his knuckles.

Akamaru whimpered a little, and Shino's glasses glinted in the sunlight as he pushed them up the bridge of his nose, like he always did when he was frustrated with Kiba's antics. "I'd prefer a plan. As Akamaru has no doubt noted, our target has a formidable chakra. You and Akamaru will attack him head-on, since close combat is your strength. Try to disarm him of that weapon he is carrying. Meanwhile I will find an opening and enervate the target with my kikaichū."

"Enervate…?"

"Debilitate."

"Uhh…." The Inuzuka exchanged looks with Akamaru. The dog had transformed into a slightly more beastly version of himself in preparation of the battle.

"Just shut up and go. He's here. And remember, we need him _alive _if we want him to lead us to Hinata."

The target had indeed appeared on the forest floor down below. He was walking with a dejected slouch, huge sword trailing behind, leaving a deep rut behind it in the ground.

Howling ferociously, Kiba dropped down from his perch in the trees, followed closely by Akamaru. They didn't allow the target time to react. Together, man and dog launched at their opponent in a whirlwind of claws and fangs, tearing straight through the purple-clad ninja. The sound was strangely…wet.

When Kiba turned around to assess the damage he had inflicted, he nearly had kittens. There was a gaping hole in the ninja's body where their whirlwind had ripped through. But instead of leaking blood and guts, water was spewing out. It wasn't like a water clone would be, which would have dissolved already into a puddle of water. This man seemed to be _made _of water.

"Ahh… and I was already de-hydrated." The ninja sighed and turned around. As he did, water began to gather in his wound. It seemed to solidify, then it took on the appearance of flesh once more.

"F-freak," Kiba muttered. Now he realized why the smell of seawater was so strong.

The white haired ninja grinned, his shark-like teeth putting Kiba's own fangs to shame. He hefted the huge sword onto his shoulder, and then attacked, swinging wildly. Kiba dodged it, then clawed at the ninja's shoulder. It was no use. Any wounds he inflicted just kept regenerating.

_He's de-hydrated. Does that mean he'll eventually run out of water? Thinking stuff through like this is more Shino's thing! I just need to keep this guy occupied while Shino does his bug thing. _Kiba's nose had picked up the scent of Shino's bugs already creeping onto their target's body.

The shark ninja swung again, this time barely missing Akamaru. _First things first, that sword has to go_. Kiba and Akamaru combined into a whirlwind again, this time completely taking off the ninja's sword arm. The sword fell to the floor amidst a puddle of water. Kiba picked it up with both hands, and with enormous effort, managed to throw it into the surrounding foliage, even as their target's arm grew back. That thing was heavy!

The shark ninja yowled in fury, then attacked Kiba and Akamaru with renewed ferocity. He seemed to have some sort of jutsu that enlarged his arms, turning them bulging and disproportionate. Even with Kiba and Akamaru working together, it was difficult countering the long range of those arms. Shino needed to hurry up. In the span of a second, when Kiba's attention flicked up to where Shino was standing in the shadows, the ninja had wrapped a humongous hand around Akamaru's neck, and pinned him against a tree trunk.

"Are you the real one? Or the clone?" The shark ninja growled. Wood splintered as he pushed Akamaru harder and harder against the tree.

"Akamaru!" Kiba howled, and launched himself at the white-haired boy, only to be thrown back by his other arm. Akamaru, overwhelmed by the pain, transformed back into a dog.

The ninja laughed. "And you think _I'm _the freak?" He tossed Akamaru away. The dog hit another tree and crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Seconds later, the shark ninja also collapsed, his arms shrinking back to their normal size.

"Took you long enough!" Kiba yelled at Shino, who had dropped to the forest floor.

"Don't bother moving," Shino told the ninja. "Why? Because even as we speak, my kikaichū are devouring your chakra. If they get a little too eager…" Shino let his voice trail off suggestively.

"Bastard…" The white-haired ninja muttered. But he did not move. He had become aware of the miniscule black insects covering his body. "First that Hyūga chick, and now these creepy bugs? Ugh…this is really gross…"

Meanwhile, Kiba was crouched anxiously over Akamaru's body. The dog was still unconscious, and one of his hind legs was twisted at an awkward angle. _It must have broken when he hit the tree._ Kiba resisted the urge to tear out the shark ninja's throat. He was their only lead to Hinata right now and he needed to stay alive. But with Akamaru's broken leg, how would they reach Hinata anyway? He wished he knew how to heal dogs, like his big sister Hana.

He voiced the problem to Shino and the Aburame sighed. "No choice, we have to go back to the village." When Kiba looked mutinous at the thought of abandoning Hinata, he quickly added, "We can't travel with Akamaru's leg broken. And with this hostage, we'll be able to find Hinata."

Kiba nodded reluctantly. "Wait for us, Hinata," he said softly.

* * *

Sasuke blinked in shock. He couldn't believe it. Had she just… turned off his Sharingan?

"What have you done?" Sasuke tried to re-activate his Sharingan, but it was as if his bloodline technique had deserted him, leaving him powerless. He turned to Hinata and was infuriated to find that her lips were slightly upturned into a victorious smile. Her lavender eyes were shining, her face glowing. It was unbelievable.

"Reverse this," he said, emphasizing every word. In one swift movement he had unsheathed his katana and pressed it to her throat. Sasuke smirked when she paled immediately, all traces of a smile vanishing.

"Y-you won't kill me," she gasped. "You need my eyes."

"I need my own eyes more. So _reverse it_."

"First, t-tell me: whyare you a-avenging Uchi…Uchiha Itachi?" Hinata's frightened eyes were fixed on the blade at her throat. They closed briefly in relief when it was withdrawn.

There was the sound of steel as Sasuke sheathed his katana. "I'll tell you. So do it."

Hinata approached hesitantly, lifting shaking chakra-laden hands to Sasuke's hands. Sasuke retreated immediately, his back hitting the roof door. Hinata withdrew her hands. Her expression was sympathetic, telling him not to be afraid, to trust her. His panic lessened inexplicably.

"Do anything else and I'll cut out your eyes and give _them _to Kabuto," he said, but he knew it was an empty threat. Hinata approached again. The last thing he saw before he shut his eyes were her dusky lavender eyes, coming closer.

He felt her lay cool, shaking fingertips on his eyelids. "This may h-hurt a bit," she stammered quickly. Before he could stop her she had sent a jolt of chakra into both of his eyes. The chakra ran forcefully through his chakra vessels, removing the blockage. He groaned aloud. The sensation was akin to being hit by a strong water jutsu, but the pressure was focused on his eyes. Chest heaving, he leaned his head back on the stairwell wall and opened his eyes. They were red once more.

For a moment there was just the sound of Sasuke and Hinata's heavy breathing. Then, the silence was broken by the sudden rumbling of Hinata's stomach. Breakfast was late in coming. Hinata quickly released Sasuke and stepped away, hugging her arms around her middle. Even in the dark, Sasuke could see that her face was red with embarrassment. He smirked and walked past her, to the stairs.

"W-wait!" She said timidly. "T-tell me why you're aveng—"

"I'll tell you," Sasuke interrupted impatiently, looking back at her. He turned and began to walk down the stairs. "While we eat. "

Hinata took a deep breath, willed her hands to stop shaking, and followed.

* * *

Reviews would be greatly appreciated! I'm glad people seem to be enjoying this so far and I'd love to hear what you think.


	10. Chapter 10

Before we get the ball rolling I just want to say WOW GUYS. I got so many reviews this last week! I've been so happy lately, and it's all because of you guys. Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 10

Sasuke sipped absently from his drink. He felt strangely uncomfortable, even though there was no imminent danger nearby. Maybe it had to do with the girl sitting across him, and the way she keep staring at him from behind her long bangs and then glancing away. She was probably wondering why he had taken her _here_.

They had gone down to the hotel lobby together, for breakfast. But the crap the hotel served had not looked remotely appetizing, so he had taken them to a small family owned diner. It was near to the festival, and the sound of laughter was starting to annoy him. And all the way there, Hinata had seemed flustered, nervous. It wasn't like this was a five star restaurant.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hinata glance at him again. Why did she keep doing that? It's not like he'd taken them here for _her_. He wasn't being _nice _to her or anything. The food here was probably only marginally better than the food back at the hotel, but at least it would be hot. So why was she _looking _at him like that? Already frustrated with the sounds of the festival, Sasuke put his drink down loudly, leaned forward and looked her straight in the eye.

It had the desired effect. Hinata turned bright red and muttered an inaudible apology. She did not look at him again.

_I like it when she blushes_. The thought came unbidden, unwanted, and Sasuke stifled it. He'd study it later. He'd review it, he'd analyze it, he'd reason it out, until it was so much logic and fact that he'd be able to understand it. And then he'd forget it.

Because thoughts like those didn't help. He was going to have to rob this girl of her vision. He was going to hand her over to the hands of Yakushi Kabuto. So he'd have to forget thoughts like those. Sasuke had learned that with Orochimaru, possibly the only lessons about emotion that he had learned from him. Once the sannin had brought him a man from a far away town. It had been when Sasuke had just left Konohagakure, when he had still had those occasional feelings of longing, and of sadness. Sasuke had befriended this man who could not even speak their language, and whose home was where the eye could not see. He had done it despite knowing, in the back of his head, what Orochimaru intended to do with this man, and why he had been brought there.

He had been Sasuke's first, hands-on lesson on torture. The man had been the only survivor of a powerful clan, and only he had known their signature jutsu. After an hour the man had been screaming for them to kill him, to just end it. An hour later and Sasuke had presented Orochimaru with the information, shaken from the image of the mentally broken man. Orochimaru had smiled too wide. Sasuke knew he had planned this. He had known, somehow, that Sasuke would become too emotionally attached.

Like every other lesson he had ever been taught, Sasuke learned it and he learned it well. He would not become emotionally attached to Hyūga Hinata.

There was a polite clearing of a throat, and Sasuke realized that their food had arrived. He stopped leaning over half the table so that the waitress could set down the steaming plates. The fare was simple: eggs and freshly baked buns, but it was much better than anything the hotel had to offer. Across from him Hinata began to eat with dainty elegance, even as the red blotches on her pale cheeks began to slowly fade away. He noticed that she blew delicately on each bite before putting it in her mouth and chewing slowly. Swallowing.

She looked up suddenly, aware that he was watching her. The red blotches on her cheeks became more defined as she reddened once more.

Sasuke looked away and focused on his food. He noticed that she did not continue eating.

"S-so…" Hinata started shakily. She wouldn't look him in the eye, Sasuke noticed with brief amusement, and seemed set on talking to his left ear.

"You want to know about my brother," Sasuke said. When she nodded, he paused before going on. It was safe to tell her this. It was safe to tell her anything. Once she was going to Kabuto, she would not be going back to her village. This was the price for his revenge.

"It's pretty simple, really," Sasuke continued, with sudden barely contained venom that made Hinata shrink back a little in her chair. "It was the village of Konoha that ordered my brother to slaughter his entire family that day."

Her expression. It mirrored everything he had felt when he had found out from Madara. Astonishment. Disbelief. Horror. Disgust. Pain. Was she feeling betrayed and resentful of her own village? Did she realize now how corrupt they all were? How they deserved to burn?

The only thing missing from her pale face was the terrible anger he had felt. Instead there was pity. Sasuke looked away angrily and got up from the table.

"Come on," he said, more roughly than he had intended, throwing money onto the table. "Let's find Kabuto and get this done. While we are here you will always be with one of us. You can't ever be by yourself. And _don't _touch my eyes." He turned away, trying to erase the look of sharpest pity that she had given him. She was indigo and softest lavender and he was crimson and darkest onyx. This was how it would be.

* * *

Halfway through picking the lock of a window with a senbon needle, using his Byakugan to see the tumblers, Neji realized what he was doing. He was breaking and entering. More specifically, he was breaking and entering into the private office of a _Konoha _official. In _Konoha_. The thought was enough to make him pause, senbon needle still jammed into the lock. He was well and truly traitor now. But Neji consoled himself that he was only helping to dethrone Danzo. No one would miss that old bastard.

It would be for the good of the village.

Because this was Danzo's office. He was here to get information. The snake would be here again at midnight, and Neji wanted to be prepared with information to manipulate Sasuke. If he twisted the information the right way, he could avert Konoha's total destruction, and bring about the demise of a despotic tyrant. But first… he needed Danzo's secrets.

Finally there was a small click, and the window swung open. Neji allowed himself a small smile of victory before he slid into the office, shutting the window as quietly as possible behind him. He looked around. The office was sparse to say the least. The formidable oak desk was nearly bare, just a small stack of papers and a cup of writing utensils. Neji riffled through the papers carefully, found nothing of interest there, and turned his attention to what he had come here for: the file cabinets. They took up an entire wall. Luckily, Neji knew for sure that Danzo would be gone the entire day.

He clenched his jaw, and began with the topmost row of files. Yes, Danzo was very busy today. He was campaigning all around the civilian districts, making the case against Naruto. Now that he had the Konoha council in his pocket, he was admitting openly what he had done to Naruto. And now he was garnering the "support" of Konoha. Of course, Danzo's campaign seemed only to stretch in the civilian districts, where news of Naruto's heroics had not permeated. To them he was just some boy, some Jinchuuriki who should be locked up to protect their children. It had been easy to garner their support, and since civilians outnumbered ninja even in Konohagakure, Danzo would never have to give up Naruto. Legally.

_That's why I'm here_, Neji told himself. _To help Naruto_. He opened file cabinet after file cabinet, trying to find the reason why Sasuke wanted to destroy Konoha. If he knew that, then he would know what best to tell the snake spy, what best to keep Hinata alive, what best to make sure that Sasuke struck Danzo, and Danzo alone.

File after file, and he had not found anything. He shut the last cabinet with a frustrated sigh. _Danzo must keep his classified files in a more secure location. Everything I've seen so far has not been very important_. While he was wondering where these more classified files could possibly be, he caught sight of an approaching chakra source with his Byakugan.

As quickly and as silently as possible, Neji launched himself to the window, and was halfway out, when a high-pitched female voice yelled, "Wait!"

He turned. It was a girl with bedraggled blonde hair, wearing a white lab coat and very dirty spectacles that obscured her eyes. It was Shiho. Neji recognized her from the Konoha Cryptanalysis Squad.

"Why are you here?" He asked suspiciously, one leg still out of the window.

"Are you trying to get Danzo's files?" She asked, in a breathy, vague voice. He nodded uncertainly. Shiho worked with Ibiki, he knew. She held no loyalty or ties to Danzo.

There was a clang of metal objects and Shiho held up a ring of keys. "I think I can help you with that."

* * *

Sasuke took them all around Saishe, inquiring if a white-haired young man with glinting spectacles had been seen. There was no news of him. Sasuke was beginning to feel very irritated. The medic ninja had told him to meet in Saishe once he had taken Hinata captive. He had been expecting Kabuto to be waiting in the city for them, ready to give him the Byakugan's power immediately so that Sasuke could be on his way to Konohagakure as soon as possible. But now they were here, wasting time, and Kabuto was nowhere to be found.

"A pretty trinket for a pretty girl!" A salesman's voice made Sasuke look behind him. He spotted a red-faced and flustered Hinata stammering something to the owner of a jewelry stall, who was holding out an expensive looking locket to her. Sasuke felt his lips upturn at the sight of her endearing discomfort, and he found the smile that was threatening to spread over his face.

Sasuke walked over to Hinata and shook his head at the jeweler, who put away his wares disappointedly. Hinata continued to stammer apologies so Sasuke took her arm and led her away. He could tell without looking down at her that her face was still a brilliant shade of red, one that seemed to make her pale lavender eyes all the more striking.

He made no move to release her arm. She was his captive after all, and it wouldn't do to let her trail behind him through a crowded city.

"I'm sorry…" Hinata said to him after her blush had died down. Sasuke realized she was still talking about the jewelry stall.

Sasuke shrugged, and the movement had his arm rubbing against hers. _Forget it, forget it_. Those words had become a mantra in his head and the longer he spent time with this girl, the more he repeated them. He made himself release her arm, but still he kept a close distance. "I would think you have enough trinkets as the heiress of the Hyūga clan." He felt her tense at his side, and he instantly regretted saying the words.

But instead of bending to the scorn in his words, she surprised him by asking, "Do you miss being the little prince of your clan." Her words were without the spite or malice one would expect, but instead she was earnest, as if eager to understand him. She looked up at him with those luminescent, moon-like eyes, and Sasuke felt his initial anger at her fade.

"I wasn't a prince." He said firmly. But his voice was made quiet by the memories that flooded him. If anyone had been a prince it had been…Itachi. A wave of sadness took over him. He realized he had never felt this sadness in a long time. Lately it had been buried under all his anger and resentment.

Sasuke saw her looking at him. She could see his pain, she could see him, and she was understanding him. When she reached out hesitantly, and rested her hand in the crook of his bent arm, he did not pull away again. He was deep in remembering, and this presence at his side seemed to lessen the hurt of the memories of blood and betrayal.

It was getting late. Sasuke let Hinata steer them back to the hotel, where Jūgo and Karin would surely be waiting for them.

* * *

Fun fact: This fic was originally going to be called "Avenger's Bane". Thank goodness my friend Insane Romantic knocked _that _idea on the head.

Sorry if this chapter seems rough or rushed. I won't be having any internet access over the weekend and I wanted to get this chapter out for you guys since I'm trying to do the update-a-week thing this summer. Hope you like it enough to send me a review~

And also... Sasuke is strangely sentimental in this chapter, but believe me, it's not going to last long. ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Kakashi stood in front of the battle memorial, lost in thought. The sun had set hours ago. It was a warm night, one that he would have liked spending inside, reading _Icha Icha _under his swiftly rotating ceiling fan. But still he stood there.

Once again, he was failing his students. He had promised Sai that they would find a way around his curse seal, which was blocking his ability to talk about his old master, Danzo. He had promised, he had thought he could do this one thing. But it seemed Danzo was mocking him. Sai's curse seal was unbreakable, no matter what they tried on it. He could tell, even though the boy didn't show much emotion, that Sai had been feeling depressed and useless lately and it was all his fault. So as a last ditch effort, Kakashi had turned the responsibility to someone else, just as he had passed Naruto to Jiraiya. He had asked the Hokage, and she had given the job to Konoha's code-breaking squad, so they could infiltrate Danzo's secret files and find the solution, the key, to Sai's knowledge.

"You would have found a way on your own, wouldn't you, Obito?" Kakashi said sadly. He turned and walked away. The woods were thick and the sky was moonless, but Kakashi had come this way so many times, he could have done it blindfolded. Somehow he wished it wasn't like that. If he had to concentrate on his walking, he wouldn't have time for these gloomy thoughts and for the memories.

A dark figure suddenly flitted in the trees on Kakashi's right. He stopped walking and turned, a sudden chill creeping up the back of his neck. In all his years of visiting the memorial this late at night, he had never met anyone else in the woods. And it wasn't as if they had been heading to the battle memorial either. That was in the other direction.

_Why do I think this is so weird? It's probably just a chunin out for some late night training_. Maybe it was Naruto being kidnapped. Maybe it was because he didn't feel like letting himself dream tonight. But something made Kakashi turn around, and follow after the dark figure in the woods.

He caught up quickly, and came to a clearing. In the middle, his quarry knelt on the ground, appearing to consult something there, a dark cloak and hood obscuring all features. Kakashi could see his arms moving, and could catch a soft murmur of conversation but he was too far away. Mustering up all his ANBU stealth skills, Kakashi scaled a tree, climbing higher and higher, his belly nearly touching the wood. He reached as high as he could go before the branches began to get dangerously thin. From his high vantage point, he could see what the ninja was talking to.

Two emerald green flecks of eyes in a black snake. As Kakashi watched, the cloaked figure finished tying a scroll onto the snake. Before he could move to stop it, the snake disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Kakashi couldn't believe what he was seeing. A spy! A spy for Sasuke! Who in Konoha would do such a thing? Was it Danzo again? But no, Danzo would not want to support the man who was trying to bring _down _Konoha. Would he? The boy that Kiba and Shino had brought back, Suigetsu, had mentioned nothing about a spy for Sasuke. Was it possible that this snake was being sent slithering to a different ear?

Slowly, he lifted up his headband, revealing his Sharingan. Kakashi put his hands together in a hand sign, determined to stop the traitor and turn him in to the Hokage. But as soon as he drew on his chakra, the figure's head snapped up and he turned to look at Kakashi. His face was in shadow, and all Kakashi could see were long dark strands of hair moving in the wind. Was it a girl? How had she been able to sense his chakra like that? Something was wrong…

Deciding it would be better to ask all these questions once the girl was in chains, Kakashi sent a fireball burning towards her, just as she sent a kunai flying back at him. The kunai hit the wood at his feet, and he realized that it was wrapped in a smoke tag. It exploded in his face, filling the air with thick smoke. He coughed, eyes streaming, and leaped blindly out of the tree and the surrounding smoke cloud.

There was no one there but him and the now slightly charred trees. He straightened himself, and began to head towards the Hokage tower, a new fear beginning to coil in his gut. Waking the Hokage up was scary enough, waking her up with bad news was downright terrifying.

* * *

Neji flew through the trees as quickly as possible, his heart beating loudly. He had been seen, he had been seen, he had been seen. He cursed himself for being so careless and not checking around with his Byakugan first. He had only seen Kakashi when the jounin had drawn on his chakra. If he had been a second later, he would have been taken, branded as a traitor. And then Hinata would die, and Sasuke would destroy Konoha and…

He breathed in deeply, stopping the stream of self-despair. He had gotten away. He would be more careful next time. The information he had been able to steal from Danzo's private files had been astounding, and just what he needed to turn Sasuke against Danzo.

He had been found by Shiho, who had been working with others to find information on the curse seal Danzo used on his Root members, to make sure that they couldn't give away his secrets. She had thought that he was working against Danzo as well, and had shown him to the hidden file storage room where Danzo kept all his classified information.

Shiho had never asked who he was giving the file to, the file he had plucked victoriously from one of the dusty cabinets in the corner of the room, after hours of searching. He supposed his reputation as Konoha's most loyal shinobi came in handy now and again. He wondered if after this all blew over, he would have even a shred of that reputation left to him.

Neji stopped at the edge of the Hyūga compound, and stripped out of his black cloak, stuffing it out of sight into the front of his shirt, which made his appearance look phenomenally less suspicious. He made his way to his rooms as silently as possible. But when he turned a corner, Neji was stopped in his tracks by none other than Hyūga Hiashi.

Neji bowed quickly to hide his surprise. When he raised his head, he saw that Hiashi was wearing a troubled, clouded expression. Was it possible that he feared for the life his daughter?

"Neji. What have you been doing?" Hiashi asked, his deep voice reverberating through the empty compound.

"Training, Hyūga-sama," lied Neji easily. He realized that this was the first time he was talking to him since before leaving for the mission. The mission he had failed to bring Hinata back from. Shame gripped him. Neji bowed again, lower this time.

"I'm sorry for not bringing Hinata-sama back to you," he said softly. Privately he added, _I am doing everything within my power to bring her back safely. _Neji's eyes were fixed on the ground, and he saw Hiashi's feet pass through his peripheral vision as the clan headsman walked past him.

"If the powers of the Byakugan fall into the hands of our enemy, it will be on your head, Neji." He walked away and Neji was left to clench his fists in silence.

* * *

Hinata made sure to let go of Sasuke's arm before entering the hotel room. She didn't want another reason for Karin to hate her and make her life more miserable than it already was. She didn't even know why she had done it, came closer to him like that. Maybe it was because, just for a moment, Sasuke had seemed to realize what his life was becoming, what he was doing to it, what he was preparing to do to it. For a moment, then the arm beneath her hand had stiffened and become impassive once more.

But maybe there was still hope.

Sasuke reached in front of her and opened the door to her and Karin's room. They could hear the murmur of voices behind the door, so Jūgo must have been in there as well.

"Sasuke! We have news about Kabuto!" Karin practically bounced up to Sasuke. It was probably no accident that Hinata got pushed into the doorframe uncomfortably.

"Let them come in, Karin," Jūgo said, seeming to notice Hinata's predicament. Absently, Hinata wondered if he was being nice to her in apology of almost ripping her to shreds two days ago.

Karin subsided, letting Sasuke and Hinata come in and shut the door behind them. Hinata noticed that the red-haired kunoichi still remained very close to Sasuke, although he seemed to bear it like one might bear a very nosy aunt breathing down one's neck. Hinata took a seat at the edge of the bed, away from the center of the room where they were gathered.

"We've been asking the crime syndicates, the ones that have known affiliation with Amegakure. One of them had a field spy who had been in close contact with Kabuto only yesterday," Karin blurted.

"He said Kabuto's been going to Konoha's great libraries. He's researching something," Jūgo continued, when Karin paused for breath.

"But he'll be here in a few days!" Karin cut off, indignant at Jūgo for stealing Sasuke's attention from her.

Hinata sighed to herself in relief. A couple more days. There was still time before Kabuto showed up, and she would have to do _something_. She was not going willingly into Kabuto's hands, for her eyes to be plucked out, or whatever he planned to do. Hinata still was in denial about it even being _possible _but with Kabuto, she was taking no chances. She had heard the rumors, just like everyone else, about the human experiments he had done. One hand went up to clutch at her lavender jacket, where she could feel her heart beating strongly. It beat because of Kabuto's doing, there was no denying it. That his chakra had penetrated into her heart, into its very tissues, disturbed her. She would not let him touch her eyes.

"Then we'll have to wait for him," she heard Sasuke say, irritation apparent in his voice. He paused, as if for thought, then said, "While we're here, I want to make sure that one of us is with Hinata at all times."

A strange cold fury pulsated through Hinata. So she would be tailed and followed, accompanied and stripped of privacy. She stood up, and suddenly, all eyes were on her. She froze up, her anger diminishing slightly, but she made herself go on.

"I-it's too c-crowded in here. I'm g-going down to the lobby. So who's g-going to be my chaperone?" Hinata tried to put as much scorn and disdain as possible into her voice, but it just ended up sounding thin and whiny. She turned and strode away quickly to the door, to hide her embarrassed red flush. Behind her, Sasuke started to follow her, but he seemed to rethink his decision.

"Jūgo," he said quietly. Karin looked positively delighted at being left alone with Sasuke in a hotel room. The orange-haired man looked confused at first, but he nodded and followed after Hinata. Together they left the hotel room and walked down to the lobby. Hinata tried to ignore the huge man walking beside her. All her defiance had left her, leaving her feeling weak and unsure. She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor sullenly.

Meanwhile, the silence stretched and became awkward.

Jūgo scratched the back of his head. "Sasuke… has been acting differently lately," he said.

Hinata didn't reply. What was that supposed to mean? Was he saying that she had changed Sasuke somehow? What was it, was she making Sasuke more cruel? More violent? It certainly seemed that way.

"He doesn't make bonds very easily," Jūgo went on. "I was wondering… if you knew him very well before he left Konoha?"

Hinata shook her head, wondering if he was implying that Sasuke had made some sort of "bond" with her. She had been with Sasuke two days and she knew she didn't want any sort of "bond" with him. She had seen what had happened to the bonds Sasuke had made. With Sakura. And with Naruto. "He never talked to me," Hinata told Jūgo. "I doubt he knew I even existed." _Like pretty much everyone else in my class_. Hinata had made it a point not to stand out, and she had succeeded very well in that.

Then, because she felt genuinely curious, she asked, "Why did you join Sasuke?"

Jūgo smiled. It was a sad smile. "As you've probably noticed, I have a bit of a problem. I get these… urges. To hurt and to kill. Sasuke is the only one who can control it. Sasuke's going to change the world, I know it. I want to see where he goes."

_Where he goes? He's going to destroy my village_, Hinata wanted to retort. "But how did you _meet _Sasuke?" she asked instead.

"Orochimaru had me." Hinata saw Jūgo absentmindedly rub his wrists, as if remembering manacles. "He took my power and copied it, put it into others. Like Sasuke."

_The Curse Seal, of course._ Hinata realized that Jūgo had faced pretty much the same thing she was going to face, when Sasuke took her eyes to extract his revenge on Konoha. He too, had been exploited for his power. Hinata sighed. _I can't let that happen to me_. "I'm sorry, Jūgo," she said softly. Jūgo's eyes widened slightly, and he shrugged.

They reached the lobby, which was nothing more than two couches, a coffee table with newspapers on it, and the reception desk, where the night clerk was napping. Hinata sat on one couch, and Jūgo settled on the one opposite her, the coffee table between them. She flipped idly through one half of the newspaper and he riffled through the other half, the one with the comics in it. And sometimes Jūgo would slide over one of the comics, and she would read it and end up smiling at it. And halfway through, Hinata decided that maybe her life wasn't as miserable as it could have been. And once they had read through five issues of newspaper and Hinata felt like she knew enough about Saishe's gossip to last her four lifetimes, Jūgo told her it was very late. They went back upstairs and separated in the hallway. Hinata was relieved to find Karin asleep. Through the paper thin walls, she heard the murmurings of voices in the room over. Sasuke was still awake.

Hinata lay down as close to the edge of the bed she could get without falling off. As soon as she shut her eyes, she was asleep, dreaming of Konohagakure.

* * *

Sasuke sat up in bed, leaning against the hard and uncomfortable headboard, gazing out at the city at night. Unlike the girls' room, theirs had a sofa bed, which Jūgo was snoring softly on. But Sasuke did not want to sleep. He was still waiting for an update from Jatai. He loathed the prospect of being stuck in the city for so long. He knew that Madara was waiting for him, to strike Konoha first so that he could swoop in with his army.

Naruto was imprisoned, he knew that. Somehow it was hard for Sasuke to believe that bars would hold the Uzumaki, but if Neji was to be believed, Danzo had found a way to do it. Sasuke knew that if he wanted revenge on Konoha, he would eventually find himself on the battlefield against Naruto. And he would come prepared. With the Byakugan.

_Hinata loves Naruto_, he remembered. He had seen her devotion to him in her eyes that very first day, when she had mentioned his name. But Sasuke was sure Naruto would never have noticed Hinata. She was too quiet, and soft-spoken. Subtle. Naruto was obvious, and loud, but Hinata wore her strength inside her. Sasuke was only beginning to understand how much strength she had.

_Forget it, forget it_.

He tried to stop thinking about her, but in the process he just stopped thinking and ended up dozing off. When he opened his eyes next, he could feel the chakra of the snake. Getting up from the bed, not caring that he did not have his shirt or his shoes or his weapons, he swung open the room's window, and used his chakra to scale the wall up to the hotel's roof, where he had met Jatai earlier. The snake was waiting for him with a scroll tied around his scaly neck.

"Did the Hyūga say anything else?" Sasuke asked, after he had taken the scroll.

"No, he didn't," Jatai said. "He only told me that he had gotten the contents of that scroll from the private files of Danzo. It seems our spy is proving himself useful."

"Seems so," Sasuke agreed absentmindedly. Yet more information about Danzo. He supposed it would be useful to know what that old fool was up to, but when he attacked the village it wouldn't just be Danzo as his enemy, it would be all the shinobi in the village.

"Then if that's all..." Jatai disappeared. Sasuke unfurled the small scroll, only to find it blank except for a seal. Upon close examination of the seal, Sasuke scowled. The seal required the blood of a Hyūga, still fresh. And yet the seal was so tiny, that only a few drops of blood could be applied. It seemed that Hinata was not the only one of her kin to be subtle. Sasuke could read the hidden message. Neji was reminding him of the importance of keeping Hinata alive and well. _As if I don't know already._ He roughly rolled the scroll back up and retreated back down the hotel's wall. He stopped at the window to Hinata and Karin's room. As he was beginning to wonder how he would open their window without even a kunai to pick the lock with, the window swung open, having been open all along. He slipped inside.

At that point, he nearly turned around and went back to his own room when faced with the sight of Hinata sleeping in front of him. He drew closer without thinking and kneeled next to her. Her cheek was pressed to the back of her hand, and she looked happier and more content than he had ever seen her while awake. When he reached out tentatively to move stray strands of hair from her face, his fingers felt ungainly and gruesomely callused when met with her soft locks. _What am I doing_, a small voice asked. It did not stop him from pressing the back of his hand to her cheek lightly.

Her eyes opened suddenly, and immediately Sasuke moved his hand to her mouth to stifle her scream of surprise. He drew his hand back when the initial shock faded from her eyes. He wasn't sure why, but he did not want Karin to wake up. Hinata sat up and stared at him suspiciously, and Sasuke became painfully aware that he was not wearing a shirt.

Determined to explain to her why he had dropped into her room like this, he whispered, "I need your blood, Hinata." This did not help. In fact, Hinata had turned as white as the sheets she clutched. He tried again.

"I mean, I need it for this. Your cousin sent it," he said as loud as he dared, and unrolled the scroll to show it to her. The suspicion in her eyes turned to curiosity. _She must want to know what's happening in Konohagakure even more than I do._ She got out of bed to kneel on the floor as well, and spread the scroll out between them. Then, closing her eyes, she bit down on her thumb until her tongue tasted the salt of her blood. Hinata leaned forward, her long dark hair falling in sheets around her face, and pressed a red thumbprint in the small center of the seal.

A manila folder popped into existence. The label tag on it said: Uchiha Itachi.

And all of a sudden Sasuke wasn't sure he wanted to open it after all.

* * *

The eleventh update at a count of 77 reviews. It's fate. Thanks for all the support, guys! As always, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say.


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